If I Say I Love You
by The Bee's Tales
Summary: Valentine's Day passes Vergil like any other day for him, except for the over-commercialized events, discounts and unusually high demonic activity that plague it. However, for that one acquaintance, he might try to make Valentine's Day different and special...
1. Chapter 1: Love Blooms

_This should've been for Valentine's Day's, sigh..._

 _Oh well, at least it's Vergil!_

 _Written on AO3 with same title!_

 _ _ **2018 update: I updated some of the details now that the last chapters I've long delayed are finally coming to fruition. I also plan on writing Dante's and Vergil's childhood and teenage years in this DMC AU. Thank you for all the faves! Please don't be shy in asking me or giving your critiques!**  
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 ** _We have a tumblr:_** ** _ ** _beesliltales9229_**_**

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Chapter 1: Love Blooms

The pink and red balloons, heart-shaped neon signs and other decor that invaded the town seemingly within twenty-four hours both amazes and peeves Vergil. It is just before dawn and he had finished decapitating the tenth Prowler he and his twin had been hunting for a few days now. The new creep of Prowlers—nearly invisible creatures that feed off the warmth of any settlement and use it as energy to incubate their spawn—had become greedy and had decided to march down their mountain hideaway to take what little heat there already is on a wintery February. And knowing there's a holiday in a coming week, he and Dante are going to have to pull an all-nighter for the next six nights.

Ah, Valentine's Day.

It will be coming in a week, and just like all holidays, it is just another day for him. Unfortunately, holidays seem to correlate with a spike in supernatural activity, almost all the time. Halloween is, surprisingly, not the highest with this statistic; at least in the areas Vergil's responsible in keeping an eye out. The only good thing that could come out of this occasion, besides the usual 'nightly cleanup routines' he and his twin generally do, is the fact that discounts and special item sales are stocked high and available, and Vergil mentally gives himself a note that he'll be procuring himself a fine vintage wine later…

 _Perhaps I'll buy myself a week's worth of alcohol and hide in my safe haunts, never mind the demonic activities. Dante seems too proud of doing those kinds of dirty work, anyway._ He mused jokingly. He knows Dante may have found himself a date or two already, which means the office in Slum Avenue would be empty and Vergil can use some of the files for a fruitful research. Ah yes, his personal research, not to mention his university duties, peaceful pastimes and polite conversations with his favorite librarian…

Kathalina, the Ice Queen, The Oracle-Muse…

…the woman who, despite her quiet beauty, feels too conscientious of herself and her place in this world. Vergil shakes his head and wants nothing but to disprove such a delusion.

As the last Prowler's corpse deteriorates into ashes, Vergil strolls back to his penthouse. Everything seems to be quiet, until he sees a figure at the corner of his eye—

A young man with brunet hair—one of Vergil's students—appears to be sneaking out of his backyard's door. Not too far from where he is, just behind the wooden fence, a young woman waits. Jumping the barrier, the young man hurriedly goes to his lover's side and they embrace.

Secret, young love affairs. Vergil smirks. After his class, he will pull him aside for a talk about making sure he and his lover are doing it safely, or else Vergil will lose one of his most enthusiastic students. There are demons, there are evils, yes, but there are also mistakes that could be avoided. With that thought, Vergil leaves the two young lovers for now. Valentine's Day is coming, after all.

But as he gets ready for his morning shower, Vergil muses if he should approach Kathalina this afternoon. The poor woman is quite a nervous wreck whenever he's around, yet she continues her best to gain back her cool composure and assist him, no matter how trivial.

 _Yes, perhaps this afternoon..._

* * *

There is an unmistakable aura of elegance in his step as he strolls inside the large doorway of the library's entrance and towards the desk. Vergil simply looks _regal_ in his lightweight navy pea coat, his pale hair brushed back, but not quite immaculate as it probably did this morning; the winter wind had done its best to ruffle his locks, though it did nothing more than to frame his long, chiseled face beautifully. Kathalina represses a wistful sigh and does her best to do her work, which really is _boring,_ no matter how much professionalism she musters.

With a book in one hand and his black briefcase on the other, she realizes that Vergil must be doing some personal research again. He has color-coordinated his briefcases according to what is necessary for the day, especially for his classes. Everything in Vergil's world, as Kathalina has observed, _has_ to be organized. And for that trait alone, Kathalina finds herself restraining from obviously swooning.

He places the book gently on the surface of the desk, which is no small book. It does make her bewilder how Vergil is able to carry it nonchalantly all the way from university without feeling numb on his fingers. He greets her, his silky voice never ceases to grab at her heartstrings. "Good afternoon."

"Good afternoon." She mimics with a smile and goes on to attend to the returned book, doing her damnedest to look like she is into her job than on the beautiful being just two feet away from her, barred by her desk. "Returning this too soon?"

"It, unfortunately, doesn't have the information I need." He sounds disappointed. "I'll be looking into the Historic Archives further and the Theologies section as well. And I'll be at the usual booth."

"For your personal research?" She wasn't being nosy; she respects and upholds privacy, but the tone of her voice couldn't be brought back and, in her hindsight, she sounded too curious. Vergil even lifts an eyebrow and Kathalina sheepishly looks away. "No, I don't mean to be a busybody. I'm...able to determine some of the patron's work patterns. It does help me help them get what's needed." She sounded breathless and panicky, despite being poised. Under Vergil's careful gaze, she can see how much she's cracking. The lifted brow is still there, but Vergil nevertheless smiles at her. "I always knew you're very astute, Kat. Don't worry, I understand. I think I'm one of the library's most notable patrons, but this _is_ one of the best haunts in town."

Kathalina has to repress that wistful sigh again after labeling the book's Return date and her signature in its log ticket attached inside the book. She then presents the log ticket to him for his signature. "Your compliments are always appreciated by the library, Mr. Sparda."

He pulls out his own fountain pen from his pea coat and signs his looping signature. "Well, it won't be quite the library it is without you, Ms. Lombardo." And he is _literally_ telling a compliment of her skills; there is no romantic subtext to it. There _shouldn't_ be...

She could tell, in the way he doesn't look up from how he's writing his elegant script of a signature.

"Thank you." Kathalina's tone was curt, as she receives the ticket and places it back into the book. With that, Vergil takes his leave; he does politely murmur a "goodbye" before taking his briefcase to his usual booth for his research. Kathalina's eyes linger on his form until he has gone to the corner end of the library, where the long staircase is, and she soon releases a breath.

Vergil is intelligent, kind...and simply unattainable. They're relationship is strictly an acquaintanceship. She could never dare herself to speak openly about her feelings, to test the waters, because being safe could save her from a disaster of having the only connection she has with him dissolve into nothingness.

Yes, it's an exaggeration, but—

Kathalina has always pictured Vergil to be partnered with someone who is just as sleek and wise, equally beautiful, not unlike the tall blonde friend she was introduced before, when their university was welcoming Vergil as a new addition to the lecturing staff; Vergil had brought with him his twin brother, Dante—identically handsome, but more rugged and suave, a contrast to Vergil's subtle and slicker appeal—and his twin's co-worker, the tall blonde woman…hmm, Trish, was it? Kathalina could only vividly remember the tall woman's beauty, and how, apparently, the blonde woman is in a relationship with another, not with either the twins. It was a mistake to assume that she was in a relationship with one of the men, but it did surprise Kathalina that neither Vergil nor Dante is partnered with such an illustrious beauty.

Nevertheless, despite Kathalina's musings of imagining matchmaking, she does end up imagining herself being the one for Vergil. It is only a fantasy, nothing more.

They had long been too professional and polite with one another and she hoped they would gradually transition to a warm friendship soon. She had yearnings of the two of them being able to talk more freely and openly, hanging out in his place or in her place without a care in the world, sharing each other's secrets and insecurities without judgment, just the assurance that they are honest and trust one another...

...and then they'll slowly lean their faces closer, finding each other so comfortable and lovely, murmuring sweet things about their attraction for one another, and laugh softly, until they can reach one another's lips to seal a kiss…

But she remains professionally, _politely_ distant and Vergil remains oblivious, preoccupied and far into his research, his long, angular nose buried over books or pointing at computers, his eyes more focused on the texts he reads, than on daily trivial and misguided things; while she, on the other hand, daydreams of him and of her finally taking the leap, but of course, Kathalina finds it foolish of her.

How could she catch the attention of such a wonderful being?

According to friends and colleagues, he behaves similarly at the university and outside, all tempered with the same respectable manner, impersonal and polite. Anyone who knew him feels like an intellectual equal; anyone who didn't know him yet would feel in awe of his presence.

Eloquent, mysterious, intelligent…

And perhaps because of these traits, Kathalina throws all efforts to evoke a cool sophistication, acting in the best of her ability that she may be too cool to fall for all the insecurities and anxieties she has about herself (she has to give herself credit for being able to repress her swooning in front of Vergil); but at the same time knowing that her place is simply behind this desk, being a safe, reliable little librarian, complacent with the distance that she will never build a bridge over.

Kathalina sighs and continues with her activity. She scans the book Vergil has returned to her and soon places it on a trolley made for returned books, so they would be placed back to their shelves again. After that, she goes back to her evaluation of the recent online deliveries of new "Great Sciences and Their Research", and types away on her keyboard, its monotonous _tap, tap, tap_ sound is among the noisiest sounds she'll hear, besides the minutest sound of a page turning, or the quiet footsteps of the multitude patrons and staff; her well-practiced advice for students to where they can find what for their work drawls across her lips; the industrial sounds of a mechanical ladder from a faraway section, a mop sliding across the floor, a staple wire, a pencil dropping, a mouse clicking on its pad...

Monotonous, dull, humdrum…

Those three words seem to define her routine _and_ herself. Oh well…

The hours tick by predictably and she manages to finish her main task before her break. Walking outside and going across the library to a nearby cafe, Kathalina buys herself the usual sandwich and drink, and sits on a booth outside the cafe. She finds it enjoyable to gaze at this town whenever a holiday is coming. Beautiful little La Piuma is always bursting with color and merriness, and it magnifies tenfold that it's hard not to feel elated, even though she has no Valentine to spend it with.

She sighs as two women share a chaste kiss as they lounge on one of the benches in the central plaza. One of the plaza custodians is giving away free heart-shaped balloons, and he hands two for the women on the plaza.

Kathalina keeps her gaze on the adorable, old custodian giving away free balloons on the plaza, smiling at this simple gesture. But her smile drops when the old custodian gives one free balloon to Vergil, who seems to have decided to take a break from his work. Vergil appears bewildered at first, but he soon gives the old man a small smile in return after being gifted a balloon. Vergil takes it and—is heading straight for this cafe!

Kathalina begins wrapping her sandwich inside its aluminum wrappings and rapidly gulps down her iced tea, as drinks are not allowed in her desk, for fear of spillages on the documents. Kathalina decides she'll finish her food after her work day is done, but she'd rather not be—she just _can't be_ —next to or sharing the same public space with the man of her dreams. She'll never be able to focus on her food, or her work, or even at her favorite TV show when she goes back home, at all! It had happened already, just a few days after Vergil was introduced as a new teacher in the university; Kathalina was unable to recall the important dates and files she needed to copy and deliver to the guest lecturers at that event. It would've been a disaster, had it not been for Vergil _himself_ who assisted her in saving the whole function from crashing down.

No, she can't afford being a fool again or almost lose her job!

"Kathalina!" The silken voice of her dreams sounds desperate. What the hell is he doing out here anyway? He rarely goes to the cafe she always frequents in and never at the same time. "Wait, please!"

Kathalina was eager to briskly get to the other side of the road to get to the library, but he had begged and...well, it would be rude not to at least hear him out. She didn't want to be unpleasant to him and risk becoming a sore memory to him. They aren't going to be together, anyway, so Kathalina might as well indulge this rare, casual conversation.

"Sorry, I'm in a hurry to get back to work, but there are minutes to spare." It's a lame excuse, as there is at least an _hour_ before her break ends. To add further humiliation to that poor excuse, Vergil checks his watch and his brows furrow further. Kathalina flushes. Of course, he _knows_ her breaks, even if they've never talked about how the librarians have a systematic way of covering each other's shifts. He is truly much more knowledgeable than what she already gives him credit for.

"I...I apologize for hindering your walk back to work, but I had to stop you." Vergil steps closer and Kathalina tips her left foot back slowly. "I had wanted to join you on your meal this afternoon. I was told by your replacement, Max, that the cafe is your usual spot."

 _Damn you, Max! Damn you!_ Of course, the poor, young and new librarian has no idea of Kathalina's lacking of a love life and is innocent of any crimes, so he shouldn't be cursed like this. Oh, how she wishes she could just shrink to the size of an ant and be stepped on the pavement.

"Are you truly going back to work now?" Not only does Vergil sound disheartened, Kathalina could see it in his blue eyes. "I promise I won't waste your time. I do wish to accompany you in your break. And perhaps get you into the details that I hope you can help me with later."

Kathalina couldn't stop flushing and her mind from short-circuiting. This just can't be! Is he asking her for a date—?

 _No! He's asking for a company, which of course is just a transition to usual business! It's nothing!_ "I guess I'm just too worried about Max, but I think he's going to do all right. Um, yes, sure. We can have a meal together."

Vergil's whole body relaxes and smiles tenderly. "Excellent! I'll buy you a dessert."

They walk back to the cafe, his hand placed gently on her upper back and the heart-shaped balloon's string is knotted on his briefcase handle. Kathalina's stomach is bursting with butterflies.

The meal goes on smoothly, with Vergil engaging more than the usual polite conversation and Kathalina is even laughing with him on some of the silly things he and his twin has done on some of their travels. Vergil also muses about how he wishes to do more for some of the students who are lagging behind. Suggesting that they can use the upstairs smaller lecture rooms for their remedials and to take note for future lecture talks, Kathalina hands him a draft of the tentative list of professors, writers, lifestyle advisers, experts, etc. that will be coming to the library's Discussion Hall this February and March.

"This is more than helpful," Vergil muses excitedly, his eyes wide and poring over the prestigious names on the list. "The students will be thrilled to listen to them. Thank you, Kat."

An informal address. Vergil's rare and intimate use of a colleague's nickname usually means that a really good thing has happened, which is more usual with his students who seek his help. Somehow, Kathalina feels that there's something more that's going on…

His eyes flit from the paper to her, to gaze deeply at her and give her his most tender smile. Kathalina flushes. "For the students. I've seen them spend more time in the library than ever before. I'm really glad they're encouraged."

Vergil hums, not taking his eyes off her. She, on the other hand, glances away and sips on the straw for her iced tea, only to find that it's been finished of its contents minutes ago. She flushes further and, glancing at Vergil, sees his smile widen more, showing his teeth.

 _This just can't be. It has to be a prank._

Kathalina checks her watch and Vergil does the same. "I believe that Max's next task is coming." She eagerly takes the attention of a wait staff and asks to have the dessert for a take-away. "Thank you for the dessert, Vergil. I'm glad I was a good company."

"Likewise." Vergil nods along with his answer, his smile dropping to its usual polite level. "Shall we walk back together, perhaps, Kathalina?"

Formal address. "Yes, of course, Mr. Sparda."

Kathalina thanks the wait staff for the take-away dessert and strolls out of the cafe, all the while thinking about how much she hated herself from transitioning from a really good, friendly conversation to an abrupt, cold and professional demeanor. She was leading the walk towards the door, when she feels him brush past her and opens the door for her. She suddenly feels like she could taste strawberries in her mouth, instead of the bland iced tea she just had.

"You didn't have to." Yet Kathalina walks through the doorway as Vergil holds the door open for her. "But thanks!"

"You're welcome." And his tender smile returns.

There is definitely _something_ here…

Vergil suddenly appears to be leading the walk, until he stops and forms his left arm into a hook. "Come."

Kathalina is _definitely_ being pranked. A few seconds actually pass as Kathalina registers what is happening in front of her. She even looks around the environment to catch a familiar face—a long-time best friend who is pranking her (although that would be impossible, as her best friend hasn't heard of Kathalina's new dream boat, nor of anything lately), a colleague who's daring Vergil to do this on the hapless librarian, or even Vergil's twin brother hiding comically behind a thin, sapling tree on the plaza, playing matchmaker on his brother—but sees none of them at all!

"Ms. Lombardo, I assure you," says Vergil, quite impatient and amused at the same time. "This is not a Valentine's joke and I would never do such a thing on April First. I simply want to treat a colleague, as she has always done commendable work."

And from that last sentence alone, Kathalina didn't know if she should sigh in relief or fall back into the cold reality that Vergil is simply being a good friend, and they are nothing more.

It seems to be the latter, but she pretends to sigh with relief. She does her best to smile sincerely. "Oh, Vergil, I'm sorry. I thought your brother may have put you up to this."

She expects him to scoff and roll his eyes at the mention of his twin. Instead, he surprises her by smirking. He really does look so _beautiful._ "I'm afraid that the other way around happens more frequently, Kat."

Quiet, she slowly hooks her right arm to his, still reeling from this reality, _this_ reality that there is nothing romantic about them at all. But she should be relieved, right? Kathalina settles into her usual complacent ideology and strolls back to the library, arm in arm with Vergil.

"Oh, and Kat?"

"Yes, Mr. Sparda?"

He immediately doesn't answer. It's only when they were near the steps to the library did he continue what he wanted to say. "After you sign in to your shift, will it be too much to ask you for further assistance?"

Kathalina represses the butterflies in her stomach. After all, he had asked her this question on past occasions, when he needs intimate details about certain documents he needs for his personal research. "I pray it isn't illegal."

"Now when have I ever? No, I assure you." He gazes at her and gives her his tender, rather amused smile. "I do not want your career in danger or to drag you to something that could be too personal. I simply need more of you and the Historic Archives' expertise."

Kathalina looks up to Vergil with confidence. If there is at least one thing that she can impress this wonderful being, it's her cataloging skills, sharp memory and knowledge of the past. "We'll see to it together, then."

As they reached the doorway of the library, Kathalina unlatches her arm from him and turns to him with a confident grin. "We'll see in your usual booth, Mr. Sparda."

And the look he gives her is subtle, but she can see how a sly look is written on his handsome face.

Kathalina couldn't help but sway in her walk back to her desk.

* * *

As it turns out, the assistance that Mr. Sparda requires of her was a piece of cake...that is, a piece of cake that, if Vergil is willing to wait, will arrive to him in a week. The paleographical and folklorist team from the main city of Fortuna have been contacted by the Historic Archives team to come over and help them in extracting and interpreting the information he needs from a very ancient and feeble artifact, preserved in the pristine and clinically-sterile Artifacts section.

Not only that, he and the team of experts that will be coming over are going to pore over Vergil's research to come up with the best interpretation of the ancient text. Vergil had also re-requested to have the book he had returned this early afternoon be borrowed, as it was a mistake to disregard it too early in his investigation.

" _Archaic Fortuna: The Stories and Its Historical Significance."_ Kathalina murmurs the title, as if this was the first time she has seen it, yet, on the contrary, she has logged out, signed, recorded it on the database and had assisted in copying pages of it multiple times already in over the two years she had been librarian of La Piuma. This book is basically a collection of Fortuna's old tales and given expert interpretations by linguists, folklorists, historians, etc., to make sense of all its fantastical stories.

"I particularly like the _Legend of the Savior_." Vergil adds in a nostalgic tone. He is clearing up his desk of all his belongings, carefully putting each pristine paper in the briefcase compartment. The red, heart-shaped balloon is still tied on the handle of its briefcase. Kathalina thought it was adorable and confident of him to keep that balloon. She remembered how some of his students were giggling and whispering if he has a Valentine.

But the team will be coming at _exactly_ this Valentine's Day.

Business, as usual, for Vergil.

"About the mysterious demi-god being that supposedly saved the ancient civilization here, in Fortuna, and was hailed to be their king for a while, and then disappeared?" Kathalina recognizes the tale, as there are numerous statues of the Savior in the main city of Fortuna. Although still contested if it did occur or not, the Savior was considered a mythical hero, even here in La Piuma.

"Yes." The nostalgia doesn't disappear from his voice. "Our mother used to tell us his tales a lot while we were growing up."

Kathalina swallows. She also knows what had happened to their mother. Apparently, their mother lived in Angelavale, another town and the oldest in Fortuna, and had moved to another city to get married and have her children. Unfortunately, there was an epidemic in a nearby area they had lived in. Their father had died first, while their mother managed to whisk herself and her boys back to Angelavale, although she would succumb to her sickness in two months. The boys were taken in by their mother's friend and had lived in Angelavale, until the boys reached eighteen and had gone to different colleges. Dante stayed much closer to their mother's old town and still lives like the most nonchalant devil in Enamel City. Vergil, on the other hand, had been country-hopping, finishing his degrees and doctorates and what-not.

"Are you contesting against the Savior's existence or proving it?" It almost feels like intruding his privacy when she asked the question, yet she couldn't think of any other reason why he's doing his personal research.

Vergil furrows his brows and deeply thinks over her question. He has crossed one arm across his chest and propped the other to bring his hand to his lips to ponder.

If ancient philosophers were this _damn_ beautiful, perhaps she would've perfected her history and philosophy subjects much better back in high school. Oh, Vergil's students are _so_ lucky…

"I _do_ want to discover more, but not because I believe he had existed, but nor do I doubt that such an event has likely occurred." A sparkle seems to appear in Vergil's blue eyes as he speaks with reverence at the topic, but with such tenderness that Kathalina couldn't _believe_ he is expressing it right in front of her. "I am only seeking a truth that could cement and further respect Fortuna's illustrious history. Discovering the stories and its many truths are the things I root for."

Kathalina flushes. "Oh…"

Vergil's sparkling blue eyes ignites further when his smile widens, showing his teeth. "I hope that satisfies you."

When will he stop? "It's your answer and I respect it. I was just, um, curious."

Vergil hums and keeps his gaze onto her for a little longer, before returning to secure his belongings.

It's February and winter is still strong here in Fortuna, with snow being fickle as to whether or not to sprinkle itself lightly on the city, or to drown it in white; yet Kathalina is suffocating from the heat of her own body.

Then Vergil sniffs, as if he smelled something, then pulls a handkerchief from his pea coat, coughing and sniffling to it. Kathalina was, at first, suddenly conscious if _she_ had emitted an unsavory scent or perhaps someone was having a foul-smelling snack, which is _strictly forbidden._ But she's relieved when she realizes that Vergil may be having a cold. Who wouldn't in this cold, windy season? She suddenly remembers her healthy garlic soup recipe and wonders if she has any ingredients back home…

Vergil clasps his briefcase shut and…doesn't bring it to his hand. Thinking he may have forgotten something, Kathalina searches in her memories if he had forgotten a photocopy page of the team's response, or if he had lost his fountain pen on the Historic Archives…

"Kat?"

Kathalina is brought back from her self mind-probing and is forced to look at the beautiful man in front of her. "Uh, yes?" He must've lost a button from his pea coat, even though _all_ the buttons are intact.

And he swallows nervously— _nervously?_

He takes a deep breath and goes to his briefcase once again, untying the heart-shaped balloon from its handle. He approaches her, his steps careful, as if he might scare away a doe in the forest, and in Kathalina's head, that analogy isn't too far away.

When he's at least three feet in distance from her does Vergil stop. He twiddles with the string before continuing to speak. "We will be busy in February 14. I suggested a different schedule, but it appears the team is adamant that the date is set, as they have other things to do." He swallows again and lowers his gaze, shyly looking away for a moment, and then holding his gaze again to look at her. "Perhaps before the fourteenth, on February 12...if you would like…"

 _Wait, wait, wait…_

"On Sunday?!" Kathalina couldn't control her voice for sounding frantic. "Are you asking me out to—to have a—wait…"

The butterflies have become overpopulated in her stomach and she feels as if they have gone to her head, making her faint.

"Kat!" He sounded alarmed, but he had every reason to be, as Kathalina can only see the whole room starting to spin around her, with Vergil being the only one that stayed still. She feels his arms embracing her, cupping her back to support her and to prevent her from falling.

She's dazed and her sight becomes a bit blurry. She can only feel her body following his as Vergil settles her on one of the chairs of the booth. But he doesn't let go and she feels that he could be right for fearing that she might pass out, and accidentally fall off the chair.

"Oh, Vergil…" Kathalina wants to apologize for reacting so _strongly_ at this. But she can only muster what she could hope is a very apologetic face, with a dash of begging the angels to take her away from her own misery.

"It's alright Kathalina, I'm here." He murmurs to her. He sounds so close to her right ear. Perhaps he is. "Do you want me to call a doctor? Do you feel anything else?"

"I'm...I'm so sorry." Kathalina means it. Kathalina also means that Vergil will be the death of her, but that would be exaggerating things and would likely make him keep his distance much more effective from now on, so she keeps that. "I can't...I mean…"

"It's all right." He murmurs in his silky voice, a small, tender smile on his lips...or perhaps what her blurry sight perceives is a smile. "Should I get a doctor?"

"No. I'll be fine." Kathalina's strength comes back and she closes her eyes to try to re-focus her sight. When she opens them slowly, she finds herself gazing at a very concerned Vergil, his blue eyes intense and sparkling for her.

Oh, the angels have granted her something else…

"Maybe I can accompany you home, instead?" He sounds firm with this suggestion, despite the question. "And you shouldn't apologize. I—well, perhaps I shouldn't have asked—"

"Yes!" She didn't know where that outburst came from, but it came out of her mouth so _wrong._

Vergil blinks a few times, perplexed, but he softens immediately. "Alright, I'm glad you would let me accompany you home."

"No, no! I mean…" Kathalina feels like she should know how to punch herself. "Thank you! Thank you for wanting to accompany a wreck like me, and I'm glad, too, because I would be fainting at the middle of the street, with just the idea of dating you! Because dating you would be heaven! So yes!" _Oh, God, I'm breaking..._

And something just as _inconceivable_ happens right in front of her. Vergil bursts into _laughter. Into laughter!_

His laughter is rich, with his whole chest heaving at every sound. It's contagious and Kathalina finds herself laughing as well, but the flush of embarrassment creeps in and she feels hot tears prick at the corner of her eyes. So she stops, while Vergil lets his laughter take control of his body.

"Oh, oh no, I'm sorry!" Vergil heaves in a broken tone, as he doubles over to stop himself. "Oh, Kat...Kathalina." He was immediately tender again as he sees her tears. "No, don't cry. I'm sorry. I thought you...No, no…"

The tears flow, even though there isn't even any reason to. But her embarrassment wins and Kathalina finds herself nuzzled in the crook of his neck. He procures a tissue from one of his coat pockets and hands it to her. "I apologize, Kathalina. I wasn't laughing at you."

Kathalina _knew_ that, but she didn't trust her voice yet. She let the silence help her sink in what she had just done and how she could even end up being this _so damn close_ to this beautiful man.

He hardly notices it now, and she hadn't when she almost fainted, but Kathalina has finally found where the heart-shaped balloon is. It floats contentedly in the middle of the booth, brushing its top against the ceiling.

Mustering a shaky breath, she finds her voice again. "I was...I was just so humiliated at myself. I yelled at you."

"I thought you were excited!" He sounded so confounded, but it returns to his normal, polite tone. "Oh, Kat. I...I should've anticipated this."

It was Kathalina's turn to become confounded. Truly, _truly_ confounded. "Anticipated?"

Vergil twiddles with his hands, yet a behavior she has only seen now. Is Vergil breaking, too? Right in front of her? _Her,_ of all people?

"I had been thinking of how to approach you the question, for a long while." His gaze is on the floor, nervously touching his own fingers, as he spills his heartfelt honesty. "But it feels like...you do not want to. You are not interested, at all."

And Kathalina feels like lightning had struck her. It's been a year now and ever since she laid eyes on him, she had played coolly in front of him so as to keep herself poised and… _safe_ from falling into her own insecurities, and end up behaving like the hopeless, foolish romantic she really is. She didn't want to look like a fool, but she already was whenever she acted so annoyingly professional.

She just wants to bury herself alive for committing such an atrocious act!

"I'm sorry, Vergil." Kathalina sits straight and looks at him sternly. She's ready to let go, let go of him if it's necessary, so that this barrier of assumptions are whittled and gone, and they can become true friends…

Friends…

"I had always thought you look wonderful with someone as equally beautiful as you!" Kathalina feels her heart aching, but Vergil deserves to know. But his eyes widen at the words she had spilt, but she presses on. "And that's not me! I had always thought it's not me! And from this day forward, it will never be me! And that's why I played it cool. I could never compete or attract you, Vergil! You're perfect!"

Vergil laughs hoarsely, shaking his head, disbelieving the words she had said. But they were true! "It's true!"

"Kathalina…"

"And if you want to take back your ideas about dating me, it's fine. I want to be clear now! I'm sorry I wasn't. I didn't know you liked me—"

And she stops.

Vergil slowly gazes at her wide eyes, realizing _why._ "I'm sorry, too, Kathalina. I'm so, so sorry…" And he moves closer to her, much, _much_ closer than they already are. Kathalina swallows, but her throat is much drier and she can't do anything about it.

His face is tender, his gaze so sweet and Kathalina could only guess that she's losing herself in his eyes. "I'm so sorry, Kathalina." His silky voice seems to become warm liquid dripping on her skin. " _I_ was too cautious. I thought you wouldn't be interested."

"I thought _you_ wouldn't be interested with someone like me, at all." Kathalina interjected, although her voice is as loud as a squeaking mouse in a corner.

He smirks, but he shakes his head. "Perhaps, this Sunday, we can try again to get to know one another."

And she feels her boldness on the tips of her fingers. She slithers her hand on his chest, feeling the smooth fabric of his shirtdress underneath the open pea coat. His breath hitches at contact and he moves his face closer to hers. She doesn't move away this time. She keeps her gaze upon his pale, beautiful face and eyes, enjoying the body heat he is emitting. Strangely, his nostrils flare and he takes a whiff of the space between them, as if her scent is merely the floating particles of a perfume. Kathalina's breath hitches as well when he continues to sniff her scent, but this time closing the gap between them; his nose tip gently touches the skin of her neck and she squirms.

"Yes…" Her voice sounded foreign to her, but she knew it was hers.

"Hmm?" He hums absentmindedly, still smelling her skin and her hair.

"This Sunday. Can it be a pasta date?"

And she can feel Vergil's lips widen into a smile. "Yes. Anything else you want, my dear?"

Oh, what else? What else? Oh, just listening to him is enough, but that would be too odd of a request at this early phase. Perhaps that would be a request for another time. Perhaps he can audition to be a narrator for an audiobook. He could pass it easily and she would be listening to it until she breaks the file.

"Um, you can pick the wine."

Kathalina smiles when she feels the vibration of his small laughter. "Yes, of course."

And with that, Vergil stands up from the chair and offers her his hand. With a bit more confidence and mirth bubbling inside her, Kathalina takes his hand.

Finally taking the briefcase, Vergil doesn't forget the balloon. He takes the string in his long fingers and ties it around her wrist. Kathalina flushes at the gesture, but feels the heat of the sun on her skin when Vergil takes the same hand to his and entwines his fingers through hers.

Kathalina thanks the angels for giving her the strength not to faint.

When they exited the library, night time had blanketed the whole town and the Valentine's Day decor comes alive once more. The reds, pinks and whites of the incoming holiday warm the still grayish-white season of February. Kathalina's shift had ended an hour ago, but the library will remain open until late at ten in the evening, with a different librarian and with different patrons. Students are still prowling around the plaza, but more so in the market districts, where the discounts, specialties and holiday items are up for grabs.

Vergil asks her if she wants to buy something from the markets, but she assures him that home is her best destination, so Vergil agrees. He accompanies her to the parking lot, two blocks away from the library and sees his beautiful, vintage car. Getting inside, the car purrs like a well-fed tiger and drives like a dream. And from the passenger's window, Kathalina looks at their town in a new perspective, here inside Vergil's car, smoothly cruising through familiar streets to get her home.

When they arrive, Kathalina has to stop herself from swooning as Vergil walks her up the few steps up to the boarding house's door. Procuring her keys, Vergil remains vigilant at their surroundings.

"It's a quiet neighborhood." Kathalina assures him, but Vergil remains watchful. "I know there had been night attacks recently. The news is saying a batch of young Prowlers is coming into Fortuna, but some say this is just a cash grab for the demon hunters that had been itching to kill again."

The sudden venom in his voice is bone-chilling, however. "Whichever is true, I'm also _concerned_ about the recent abnormal snowing lately. They've been acting up since before New Year's Eve…"

The chills his voice induced didn't fade away even after she opens the door. The light inside is warm and the voices of tenants a welcoming feeling, yet the sentence that Vergil had claimed is scaring her. She couldn't help it. "Wha...what do you mean?"

"Hm? Oh, uh...it's nothing." He doesn't sound reassuring, but his tender expression is lulling her into a false sense of security she couldn't help but fall into.

"Be safe on your way home, Vergil." She said it. There. Because she does care. She's tired of how Ms. Lombardo's cool and professional voice is, anyway.

Vergil's smile is soft and loving. "Thank you. I can't wait this Sunday."

"Yeah." She can't help her gushing. "Goodbye."

"Goodbye." And with that, Kathalina closes the door and giggles. She stands against the door for a few seconds, then rushes to the nearest window to see him. She watches as he gets inside the car and starts its engine. He even looks back to the boarding house and sees her; he smiles and waves goodbye, and she waves back, as he drives away.

"Well, he was certainly a looker." One of the tenants, a young boy of nine, points out. He is smiling at Kathalina and appears to have seen them come in.

"Josh, where's your mom?" Kathalina rubs the boy's long, curly hair, to which he giggles and tries to swat away her hand.

"Are you guys gonna have a date on Sunday?" the boy teases.

"Josh," Kathalina's tone is mockingly reprimanding. "You go to your mom, now."

Without any more playful teasing, Josh scrambles back up the stairs to go back to his apartment home, giggling all the way.

Going back to her apartment home on the third floor, Kathalina decides to first crash into her bed to writhe on its mattress, giggling and celebrating at the sudden turn of her luck!

As she gushes and bounces around her bed, the heart-shaped balloon floats contentedly in her room.

* * *

Vergil's smile is still serenely plastered in his content face. He is driving back to the night markets to buy the vintage wines La Piuma has promised they would be stocking in selected sellers and stores. Usually, Vergil is pragmatic and would only be lucky to find at least one bottle left of that particular wine. Tonight, however, having conversed so _intimately_ with Kathalina has him feeling that he could get lucky. Luckier, when he plays his cards right this Sunday. And with his multitude of winning streaks in poker (he's recently stopped playing against Dante, because he can never play it seriously enough to want to win), it's good to say that he and Kat _will_ win the jackpot.

The smile is still there even as he picks up his phone, looking into the ID and realizing it's his brother, and presses the answer button. Because, _God,_ her smile, her voice, her _scent!_ Every time she gushes and feels elated, her pheromones just _wrap_ itself around Vergil…

He truly cannot wait this Sunday. But he must, and he will, since he and Kathalina are practically fated together…

"Date night?! On Sunday?!" Dante's voice, identical to his in so many ways, yet a million miles more annoying than it could possibly be, sounds giddy through the other line.

And how did he know?

"How did you know?" Vergil's voice is low and venomous.

There was a _tsk, tsk_ sound from his brother's lips and Vergil _swears_ he is going to run his sword through his brother's gut. "Vergil, Vergil, Vergil. The Prowlers you killed last night, well, not all of them converged on your area. It seems they let you took the bait. Looks like they're following you."

"How are you sure?" There's panic in his voice. Kathalina—

"I've decided to check on Morrison last night. It looks like they're going to hit La Piuma harder. And they want you out of the game. What they didn't know was that you got a more devilishly handsome twin here in Enamel City, and thought to take me out, too. Seriously, don't they know I have standards before going out?"

Vergil wanted to scream, but that would be counter-productive. He swerves the car and turns to another corner, where the road will take him to a freeway. He needs to see his brother now. If he had taken this information in Enamel City, then the group that wants him dead could be converging there.

But there's a hole in this logic. La Piuma would become a hotbed of activity if he's gone.

He stops the car abruptly. He really _wants_ to scream.

"Vergil!" His brother's urgent voice—rarely used—wakes him back to reality. "Look, Trish can be there to assist you! And besides, it'll be sad to know my brother's only date becomes a disaster!"

"Thanks for your concern." He retorts dryly. But an idea is already forming in his head. "Dante...tell Trish that she doesn't have to come over. I have a plan."

* * *

 _I still really feel that I didn't write Vergil right, as a romantic protagonist character. I apologize if he's so...out of character. It's hard to get him just right since the prequel game from the Classic was the only game he was fleshed out. Never mind the manga! I don't think they did a good job with that!_

 _Well, if there is anything that needs to be fixed, I'll write him differently in a different story than this. I admit, this is my gushiest, flowery Vergil that I've imagined him to be._


	2. Chapter 2: Trouble Brews

**_2018 update: More details are changed and updated here, as I've polished the "detective/thriller" tone of this story's crime sub-plot._**

 ** _I have a tumblr:_** ** _beesliltales9229_**

 _2017: More in-depth demonic activity and violence, some tear-jerking implied violence against victims and the usual brotherly banter. Also, lots of supporting characters..._

 _I am sorry for the poor detective-ish/investigation writing that's part of the le gasp! whole story. Thank you for reading this and commenting! I also updated the look because I managed to figure out how to edit my works here in . I've been an avid user of Archive Of Our Own for a long while, I for got to use FF's system._

 _Lastly, yes, this is the Classic DMC, not the reboot. That one we're working on separately. If you hate the reboot, it's alright. Let's just peacefully enjoy what we love. /^w^/_

* * *

Chapter 2: Trouble Brews

Vergil deftly decapitates the Prowler within his Cloaking, ensuring he is invisible, even in the darkest twilight.

But not to her.

The Prowler he has killed was one of the naughtiest, yet he didn't deserve to die. He wanted an outlet, he wanted _adventure…_

 _He was young…_

And what does an _ignorant fool_ do to what he deems as _monsters_?

Eliminate them, of course!

The sound and rush of a tall young man suddenly jumping his own house's fence behind her startles her and it's a _wonderful thing_ to feel how a young human can be so innocently _breathtaking._

"Hey!" The soft voice of her boyfriend quells the rage inside her heart, for now, and feels his arms around her shoulders. She embraces him back and gets a whiff of his freshly-bathed skin. She sighs in his warmth…

"Let's go. My dad's gone off to work already, so...uh...we have time!"

"Where do you want to go?"

He ponders, his lips pouting, and she thinks he is adorable like this. "How about an early breakfast at Little Italy? They open at around six and they got breakfast specialties there!"

She nods and they go about their way, while Vergil had long disappeared into the darkness…

"You told me you will have exams next week. Will we have to cancel our Valentine's date?"

"No way!" He exclaims, looking very taken aback at the idea that they will not be together a few days from now. "My professor's probably gonna have a date, too. He'll make it easy for us…"

With that thought, her boyfriend smirks, but he ponders yet again. "Although...he did say he's going to set our exams much earlier, 'cause he likes his weekends a lot...which means…"

"What does it entail?" She is actually quite intrigued at their teacher.

"...it means our last exams will be on Monday, _before_ Valentine's Day! Hah!"

"You seem to have a very stern professor."

He shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly and she finds it very amusing to see his lips beaming. "Nah, he's actually pretty cool _and_ he even criticizes the Tertiary Education System for all its drawbacks. Anyway, he loves weekends. He probably has a date on Sunday, which he seems to be planning to be free of any work, anyway. Probably with the librarian. So…"

"We'll also have our date this Tuesday?"

"And before that," he tightens his hold around her waist and she snuggles close to his shoulder. "We'll have our weekends together."

"But your exam…?"

Again, he shrugs his shoulders and smirks. "Hmph. I'll succeed."

It was her turn to beam up at him. "Yes. I believe it so."

"Oh, right!" He exclaims, remembering something. "That plant you gave me, it's grown a bit! Thanks a lot, by the way!"

Again she beams and she tenderly grasps his hand to hers. "You're welcome."

She already knew he had been taking care of the plant she gave him— _is_ taking care of it. But him letting her know of his kind deeds warms her heart and makes her forget about the eternal winter that will come soon, even if just for a while…

* * *

Kathalina had been giggling, squealing and bouncing around her apartment like a lovesick maniac so _hard,_ she had disturbed their boarding house's two week-old new tenant.

She had knocked on her door and had asked if there was something bad happening. The poor younger woman—of college age or less—looked very worried and Kathalina apologized profusely for disturbing her.

"I'm really sorry! I was just really excited about—well, I'm going to have a date this _Sunday_!"

And the girl's face lights up, dropping the whole 'noisy neighbor' issue. "Oh, me too!"

"I'm so happy!" Kathalina could feel her squealing coming up again, but represses it and offers the girl some late night snacks.

"Oh! Accompany you for snacks? I—I couldn't be such a bother!" She blushes and Kathalina understands. The shy, demure and lonely girl isn't even in school and is working herself to the bone as a waitress to pay for her rent on a shoebox room at the end corner of the boarding house. She has no known friends or family, and the few tenants in the boarding house that are concerned for her are the closest she'll have as both.

"No, you're not. Come on in, it's okay." Kathalina opens the door wider for the girl to come inside her apartment.

"Let me say goodnight to Josh first and tuck him in. I had baby sat him for a while. His parents went to shop in the night markets this afternoon…"

Kathalina nods in understanding, but a smirk crosses her lips. So that's why that little tyke was out of his apartment home earlier...

Coming back a few minutes later, the girl lets her know that she had also called Josh's parents and is in his bed. Again, the girl is reluctant to 'intrude her abode', but Kathalina is insistent.

"Please, come in. I want to spend time with you!" She assures her with all the kindness she can muster in her voice. Tentatively, the girl takes a step forward inside; as Kathalina gently pushes the door to a close, she hears the boarding house's window downstairs suddenly snap shut. Thinking there could be a burglar, Kathalina tells the girl to wait inside after borrowing the spare key for Josh's apartment, while she investigated.

She wasn't the only one who heard the mysterious noise; tenants from the ground level are already out to take a look. There are no prints on the carpeted part of the hallway downstairs, nor any signs of forced entry on the window. The landlady dialed for a police regarding a suspected burglar or squatter, and they expect a cop would be coming in twenty minutes. The boarding house remains alert.

Passing by the same window again, Kathalina sees snowflakes are starting to float down outside. Re-checking Josh in his apartment, she finds him reading his superhero books in his bed, when the phone rings. His parents are fifteen minutes away from the boarding house and will be home soon. With a hug, Kathalina bids goodnight to Josh and ensures all the windows and the door are locked.

When Kathalina comes back inside, she explains the whole thing to the girl and tells her not to worry. The girl merely nods and asks, "Did your Valentine give you that?" She plays with the heart-shaped balloon's string, dreamily preoccupied with the adorable thing. Kathalina smiles and says yes, and goes to her kitchen to procure her homemade biscuits. "Your home is so nice."

"Thanks. I make little DIY's on my spare time. Would you like some garlic soup?"

"Yes please." The girl looked positively happy at the sound of that. Kathalina wondered if there were days the girl ate anything at all. She and the other tenants would sometimes gather on the Dining Hall on Sundays to eat dinner and they have fun doing it. Kathalina hopes the girl isn't refusing the food out of any reasons of shame.

Now seated and comfortable, the girl and Kathalina exchange details of their Valentine's while they sip on soup and eat biscuits. As the girl asked again why she's so excited, Kathalina does her best to objectively indulge her tidbits of Vergil; after listing the top three from a thousand things why Kathalina finds Vergil attractive, she asks the girl of who her date is. The girl is blushing and excited to have met a university student, and how he wants to spend the whole weekends with her.

"He sounds really into you..." Kathalina sighs. In her school years, there was nothing but her studies. Out-of-school parties, secret gigs, even dating, was foreign to her younger self. _Because you wanted to leave Mom, you wanted to leave the sad house that was never your home…_

Yes, there was that. But now, she's free and an adult, and she would like nothing more than to live it as best as possible.

"Yes...we even met before I went to work." Her face, already a bright strawberry color, blushes further.

"I hope you two stayed out of trouble." Kathalina's tone was stern. "There are Prowlers out there. Not to mention, criminals. I wonder sometimes, if they actually work together to make people's lives miserable…"

Kathalina mused, but the girl didn't continue what she wanted to say. Afraid she sounded like some stern mother hawk, Kathalina corrects it. "Well, I _do_ hope you two stayed out of trouble and didn't bump into anybody! I mean, we're not your parents, but we would still be awfully worried if you went missing."

"I know." She says, her voice very low. There was silence as the girl didn't add anymore to that. Kathalina bites her lip and thinks of anything that could turn this around.

"Where will you be dating? Maybe me and my Valentine will bump into you this Sunday."

That seemed to cheer the girl up, even for a bit. "He says the plaza will be turning into a small amusement area. That's where we'll be."

"I promise not to dampen any romantic plans when we see each other." Kathalina adds with a teasing smile. As a sign of her word, she brings up her pinky finger for the girl's to curl to…

...but she merely looks at it with a puzzling look.

"Oh, it's a pinky swear." Kathalina explains, cheerfully extending her arm towards the girl for her to latch her pinky finger. "I promise not to dampen your Valentine's date, because I know how everyone deserves a good and happy night. Well, a _safe,_ happy night, for everyone."

Kathalina beams at her cheerfully, but the girl merely looks at her pinky finger, her grin slowly disappearing. Kathalina's heart drops. Was there something that she said? That she had done? She didn't want the girl to be sad; she wanted her to feel happy.

"Ann? Anfisa, are you okay?"

Anfisa's gaze turns to the window, where snowflakes softly fall outside. Her eyes are concentrating, yet distant. Even when Kathalina brings her hand to touch the girl's hand to soothe her, the girl remains quiet.

"Ann, did something happen? Please, you can tell me what's bothering you."

"I guess it can't be helped. It just can't be delayed anymore. Even I don't want to."

Kathalina's eyes squint, trying to make sense of what the girl had just said. "I'm sorry?"

"Prowlers aren't bad, they just...they got lost. Like me."

Kathalina's eyes widen, her fingers twitching away from the girl. "...what?"

The shocking sound of her window snapping open and closing just as quickly spooks her, letting out a shriek as the cold wind and snow from outside comes in. Did someone-some _thing_ just enter her apartment? Or did it just escape—?

With her sad hazel eyes, Anfisa looks up to Kathalina. "My date told me a lot about his teacher. I guess he's not so bad, not unlike the Prowlers I took in…"

* * *

The plan involved annihilation. Dante usually suggests these things, but it only becomes a last resort option. With Vergil, however, seething with rage—Dante could only imagine him grinding his teeth in a very cartoonish sense—and probably has an inflated dick for his lovely date this Sunday, annihilation _is_ the only option.

And since he's such a good and generous little brother, Dante obliges. "Just so you know, Morrison's still questioning an insurgent and it's a good thing he's ratting them out. It looks like we've been having competition…"

Dante lets that trail off. Well, actually, _he's_ been having dark competition in Enamel City. And now, they appear to be having a sort of cooperative trade-off if they get rid of the best hunters.

" _You scratch my back, I scratch yours." They better make sure Prowler claws won't get them killed off too soon._

Most demon hunters—newbies and veterans alike—converge in big cities to have some kind of unofficial get-together to celebrate big kills; but more often than not, most demon hunters are into dirtier tactics and businesses, including their plan to kill off competition. Yep, screwy pieces of shit, those people are!

Dante, Trish and the rest of them have always gone into more legit, community-based, underground types. It's a good way to boost morale and to simply help another one out, regarding certain creatures that just won't stop terrorizing a small town or family. And also because who in their right mind would go to an illegal one and risk having them know you too well?

 _Okay, my bad, I did a few months ago, but Morrison and I had_ perfect _excuse to go into one._

If memory serves him right, these 'demon hunters' were engaged with trafficking _so many_ people and creatures, selling them to big shots to do God-knows-what. Dante successfully busted that one down, of course—except for the fact that one of the illegal shipping containers they were supposed to save ended up being thrown by an enormous Gigantipede. Yes, that one was _also_ an illegal creature being trafficked to-

...Hmm, if memory serves him right, the Gigantipede was supposed to become one of the main ingredients for the manufacture of a beauty product.

Of course, Vergil finds out, comes in to 'correct' things and saves the day; he's also vehement in making sure traces of his and Dante's presence are wiped clean from the scene, with Morrison fixing the evidence of a black market trade gone tenfold wrong and a big request to "The Sapients' Rights Organization" to help in rounding up the poor creatures. Gigantipede, included.

As for the missing container that was thrown, estimated to be somewhere in La Piuma's rural area...well, they found the container, but its live contents are still being searched all over the vast woods next to La Piuma. He and Morrison _had_ been checking on the "Rights" Team regarding the police's investigation on the probable contents of the missing container; they're beginning to conclude that a sentient demon was captured among a few Prowler younglings, but it's inconclusive for now to link those younglings with the rabid Creep that's terrorizing La Piuma.

As for the twins, it would appear that, with big brother always looking out for them, Dante's identity and their secret demon-hunting business is secured. But that would be underestimating Dante's skills in building a reputation.

 _I mean, the big neon sign on my office isn't exactly inconspicuous!_

Oh, he's collected them all: Demon Slayer, The Man in Red, The White Devil Who Thwarts Demons…

Bad Luck Harlequin...

Yes, he's aware _that one_ came from Lady.

His bad poker games has practically halved Dante's side of the inheritance, while his least successful demon-hunting gigs has been leaving a trail of property damage, which had recently halved Vergil's side of the inheritance. Yes, this string of bad financial luck on Dante's side is normal, along with bad PR, and normally people had come and gone to his office with death threats (not effective), more poker games (a bit effective) or threats with slandering and publicizing his business (most effective), to which Morrison and Vergil quell with the following assurances:

A.) That their 'clean-up' business will remain out of public eye, especially the more personal ones; B.) That he and Dante _will_ stay within their 'hunting territories' and will not dabble with another hunter's (Dante's got enough of that with Lady), unless collaboration is needed; C.) That any suspicious demon- or creature-fraternizing, trading, unjustifiable killings or any kind of involvement, and/or crime will be reported immediately (Dante's not guaranteeing that most of the time. He needs to act, or risk losing the perpetrator and the victim). D.) And, of course, making sure property damage is minimal as best as possible. The local government and police in Enamel City, that Morrison is both 'friends' with, will cover it with the whole city's taxes. If that's the logic, then technically Dante's still paying Enamel City's government to fix the damages, being a taxpayer and all.

Well, _fine then,_ since Dante is such a good and generous citizen, after all.

Dante can't help being himself; if there's trouble, he _has_ to be there. If another demon hunter is calling for help (with or without compensation), _he'll_ be there. If his brother is telling him that they need to attract these Prowlers and make them follow towards the thick, wooded area situated between La Piuma and into the long-ass freeway bridge towards Fortuna City, _Dante will be there!_

Never mind property damage, never mind politics; never mind he's risking his identity, his privacy and their business being leaked, his reputation...Dante's a fucking demon hunter, _period._

And he knows, deep down, Vergil would want to be free from these regulations and social taboos. Isn't that why he's a professor, a _big fucking_ target and a public figure, who's into helping kids grow up way better than those assholes who want to kill off their competition because they're greedy and twisted? Deep down, he knows Vergil _seethes_ at being limited.

Vergil is quiet on the other line, but he can hear the distinct engine of his favorite vintage car. Dante represses a sputtering laugh. _Oh, big bro. You're on your phone while driving? Tsk, tsk. Next step: drinking while driving. Lemme just get him my Jack Daniels…_

"They've likely been acting on orders." Vergil finally surmises. Dante scoffs. They've figured that out already.

"Duh, these creep of Prowlers are adolescent. And horny. But they'd still need a kind of Alpha to get them going. The mature ones are safe in their mountain territory. They're staying out of this, unless they want to get wrecked by a younger and more aggressive Prowler-"

"It's not just the Prowlers I'm referring to." Vergil's voice sounds monotonous. His twin is like this when his grey-matter gears are full-on turning.

"You sayin' _someone's_ made this plan, like a head-honcho." Dante's voice is playfully mocking, as if he's insulted. "I mean, why _didn't_ I think of that when we're here _with one of their insurgents?_ "

"Not just from being commanded…like, perhaps… _manipulated_ into it." Vergil's murmur is low and venomous. "Lastly, I'm thinking someone has made an imprint on this Creep."

Then Dante's own gears are suddenly turning. "Enamel City police _did_ confirm that Prowler DNA was found on the missing black market container. Remember that, Verg?"

He hears his twin groan exasperatedly. Oh, he remembers...Dante does his best not to chuckle at his twin.

"I remember."

"It's all still inconclusive, but the fact that the missing container is suddenly _too_ devoid of any trace, except for that one DNA evidence, that it was used _means_ that either they were illegally hauling clean freaks, or the sentient demon has imprinted itself amongst the younglings, _and_ wiped most of their traces clean, and they're pretty good at it." Dante could just imagine it: a disgruntled demon stuck with a bunch of whining, baby creatures with no mother, who were all former captives and lost; and they suddenly got tossed into the wilderness to fend for themselves, after being subjected to God-knows-what by those asshole hunters that took them. "Question now is, _why."_

Vergil scoffs loudly from the other line, while does his best not to snort in amusement. Angry big bro who's lost his cool, is a very _deadly_ big bro who's lost his cool. "We'll worry about motives later. The fact that these Prowlers aren't just aggressive, they're loyal to the one making the _orders!_ And they know an intimate detail about my date this Sunday...they can be _anywhere_ trying to get to us."

Then he hears from his twin a sound that they only reserve for their mom's gravestone: a sob. Vergil sobs for a few seconds, which to Dante _does_ sound too tragic. "And all I gave her is a balloon, before I left..."

"What?!" Dante is smack-dab, flabbergasted! No wonder he's upset!

He's known about Vergil's little crush to the hot librarian in La Piuma since his orientation in the university. And knowing his twin, Vergil is agonizingly slow in making his intentions known. "Not even a kiss? Come on, Verg, seal the deal with a kiss! Go back—"

"No! I can't risk making them follow me all the way to her boarding house. They weren't there yet when I dropped her to her place. I can't. Too many people will see me, even with a Cloaking…"

Dante shakes his head, disappointed. "And all you left her behind for now is a _balloon_."

Vergil's groan is long and most likely through gritted teeth. Well, so much for sobbing. Dante does his best not to guffaw at his twin's distress. He truly _is_ concerned about the whole situation, but hearing Vergil's long-ass groan in frustration is funny.

"Please tell me that you and Morrison are at least _somewhere_ discreet and with your protective enchantment, as well. Those Prowlers are looking for us! You can't endanger the turncoat and Morrison just because you can gung-ho your way out!"

Dante represses an annoying sigh from being lectured about protection. He's used protection since he was sixteen, thank you very much!

"We're in our War Bunker. Don't sweat it!" The War Bunker is exactly that-an old war bunker built under Morrison's property, to supposedly hold out the nuclear radiation being dropped by bombs. Now, it can hold out an assortment of hexes, hellion fire and astral espionage.

"Please! Mr. Redgrave, they told me that you have a sibling who works as a teacher in La Piuma!" The old demon hunter—who had willingly come to surrender himself because of overwhelming guilt and disgust from what these demon hunters are doing—was suddenly begging, his desperation and fear is making him cling on his own shoulders. "Please, listen to me, the Alpha-she's highly dangerous, but the hunters who work for her—! They took me in! I was a small-time hunter, and I needed money to keep the house for my son! He couldn't afford to live in a college dorm or even the full tuition payment...oh, God! Please!"

"Just damn spit it out!" Morrison shouted, although it sounded more frustrated than truly angry. "What else are they planning, anyway? And how are they gonna benefit from letting the Prowlers take over La Piuma, and then the rest of Fortuna, huh?"

The old hunter shook in his seat, but he rubs his old face with his weathered hands, as if to wipe away the fear that kept creeping into his features. "The Prowlers...they will feed on _everybody! Everybody!_ Not even the hunters will be spared! But they don't know that! Or rather, they think they can outsmart these creatures. And these things will win. Simple as that!"

"But why? There are actual wild Prowlers who don't even bother human settlements. And now, we're dealing with a bunch of aggressive ones, led by your boss!" Dante had to interject. With his phone now in speakers, Vergil can hear the whole conversation.

"Please, I don't know." He pleaded, as if he was going to be hit again, even though neither Morrison nor Dante had since they took him in the War Bunker. _Morrison_ did _shove the old panicky hunter to the sofa, though. Does that count?_

"I—I—I was in charge of taking care the new younglings and keeping an eye out for them! I didn't want to engage in—in _killing_ —they _killed_ people, okay! They killed them! And they swear they were gonna get my son if I so much as talk that I work with them and ratted them out!"

"Mr. Halfield?!" Vergil's voice blared through the phone's speakers. "Redgrave, talk to me! Now!"

He puts it back to regular speakers. "Lemme guess, his son—"

"—is _my_ student!" Vergil's voice is cold with panic. Dante's worried, too. Who knew this Alpha has already gotten an upper hand, although it felt _too good_ of a coincidence that their leader would suddenly have a hold on a random college student.

"Vergil, listen to me," Dante's voice is calm and assuring. If there was anything good about being laid-back, it was that it enabled Dante to sound zen. And, of course, his brother needs him, knowing a student—or more—could be saved from this. "We do this plan, right now. I'm getting on my bike and we'll be on the woods under the freeway bridge. This is perfect bait!"

"Yes, it will be. But I need to check on the Halfield residence to make sure his son isn't harmed."

Dante nods and is already going for the door. "Yep, do that." Then he turns to Morrison and Mr. Halfield. "Calm down. I have an, uh, _acquaintance_ who's gonna check on your son."

"We live in Block 12, Piccolo Uovo Houses! Please, _my son!_ " The old hunter is definitely in hysterics and Dante can understand.

"You probably know where that is already, don't you?" Dante's lips quirk at those words as Vergil's antagonized huff is heard. A loud screeching of wheels is also heard from the other line. It looks like Vergil is driving beyond the speed limit.

"Did you put your seatbelt on?" Dante goads through the angry driving Vergil is committing, but his twin doesn't retort back.

But then a distinct roar comes to temporarily deafen Dante's ear. There was a sound of glass shattering and his brother's groaning is the last thing he hears before the line went dead.

 _Well, shit._

"Morrison, I'll let you know if we, uh, _succeed._ " He says with a nonchalant wave of his hand, a gesture that he's leaving.

"You really think _they're_ going to follow you and your, uh, acquaintance to the forest?" Morrison, as always, is a skeptic. But, as it _almost always_ is the case, his skepticism is pacified in the end. If there was any subtext to why he asks such questions, it's probably a way to goad a challenge and spark amusement in this business.

Dante pulls open the door, a dastardly too-confident smile forms, thinking about the shit they're about to deal. "Like I said, you'll know when we'll let you."

"Your sibling!" Mr. Halfield's panicky voice is—no offense—starting to destroy Dante's ears, and he tries not to roll his eyes. "You need to inform your sibling, Mr. Redgrave! He's no demon hunter and he might be used as blackmail against you—!"

"Look, whatever kind of information your... _ex-partners_ have acquired," Dante interrupts the old hunter, trying to repress his pissed-off tone. Because, _really,_ how ill-informed is this guy? And, in Dante's head, their Alpha may be deliberately withholding information from them. Another asshole…

"I can _assure you_ they know almost next to _nothing_ who my sibling is." And with that, Dante nods at Morrison, who nods knowingly back at him.

With that, Dante gives them a wink of his eye, along with a laid-back grin and leaves the bunker. After he closes the door, Mr. Halfield, however, is still drowning in cold sweat, his eyes wide in fear and looking at Morrison, as if the most ridiculous thing has just happened in front of his eyes. " _How is he this calm?_ "

* * *

The plan involved annihilation. This meant there was no guarantee that his car was to survive for this plan to work. Vergil did not, however, anticipate that it was going to be _wrecked_ this early. His mind could only wonder, of all things, how he was to drive for Kathalina on their date this Sunday.

The dry chuckle Vergil lets out grates his throat. _I can't believe I'm still worried about that!_

The gorgeous, heavily-customized, powder-blue Firearrow coupe had just been _totaled_ from the clawed foot of the Prowler; and it's only a few meters towards the Piccolo Uovo Residence area.

"Nice car." Hissed the playful, buck naked Prowler; standing proud over the hood of Vergil's car. "Too bad you can't drive your date around with this _huge_ dent on it. Not classy."

He grits his teeth as he tastes his wrath boiling inside his throat. How could he have not sensed this amateur coming in?

 _Re-focus. You can't get angry. It's weakness._

Vergil shakes his head to shake off the rage, putting a hand on the bloodied bruises on his face, which are already healing. Still sprawled on all fours on the cold road, Vergil pretends to double over as he tries to get upright. He feels the Prowler walking casually closer, as anticipated. _Let him choke on how proud he is, at first…_

"I was told to get you alive," said the Prowler, painfully putting his clawed feet on Vergil's back, pinning him there…for now. "But you _will_ be more or less alive when I _present_ you to Alpha."

Vergil let out a cold snicker. "I plan the same thing."

The only thing the Prowler got as a warning is a blue light _bursting_ from above, before being peppered with a legion of blades! This was enough for Vergil to stagger the Prowler off him and quickly stand up!

To the Prowler's credit, it still manages to laugh at Vergil while it pulled out the blue blades stuck on every body part the blades impaled. But this only harassed Vergil's temper. With a swish of Vergil's coattails, a whipping gale gusts at the wounded Prowler, who had now realized that toying Vergil is a slow, capital punishment.

"So, Alpha was right…you're _not_ just a teacher…"

Vergil harrumphs and he extends his left hand to his side; a bright, dazzling light erupts from the palm of his hand; from it formed Vergil's powerful katana!

The Prowler roared, the wind from its soundwaves bends the minutest particles of the empty, rural road, but it _refracts_ and bends backwards when it reaches Vergil. A different aura surrounds him…

"You got that right!" Vergil proudly asserts. With his right hand, he sweeps his pale hair back to keep it from hanging in front of his eyes. His left hand deftly twirls the long katana out of its long sheath, as the latter disappears into the light, while the long blade glows an eerie, bright blue. He swipes the blade across, cutting the air in half before he deftly points the tip of the katana blade at the Prowler's face.

"And as a teacher, I make sure _all lessons_ will be learned before little delinquents, like _you_ , get your recess…"

* * *

"Ann…" Kathalina's voice seems to be failing inside her throat, while other senses feel more acute, including her fear. Her heart beats as she stays _frozen_ at realizing… _at_ _realizing something sinister_ _is about to happen._

"Marcelin and I met when he and his classmates were in, what you call, a field trip." Anfisa spoke as if she was being interviewed for a job: matter-of-factly, casually recollecting memories, while ignoring the fact that she is horrifying her neighbor. "He thought I lived in a farmhouse not far from where they're studying potted plants. He must've thought so, because I was wearing a pair of farmer's boots, old dress and an apron. I stole them, because I had no clothes since I was captured. That was two months ago…"

There was a glassy-eyed sadness in her hazel eyes, but she manages a small chuckle. "Hmm…I guess looking like this, so harmless and…unassuming…nobody would think I could do anything. But when they locked me up for weeks while they simulated tests on me, they were expecting a new result, something different…I thought I could escape every time they gave me doses, but I couldn't, no matter how powerful the doses made me feel…"

Kathalina's skin crawls. There had been news of illegal creatures being sold, trafficked and hunted down for the black market…

"Ann…" There were tears on Kathalina's eyes. She honestly didn't know what to feel, but _knowing_ this poor girl had gone through horrific things is too painful.

Yet, Kathalina's mind also races back to the fairy tales she had read in middle school; she had never been read children's books when she was little, so when she was of that age when childish fears are easily shrugged off, analytical thinking dug a hole for the nightmarish tales to be buried six feet down into her subconsciousness…

Now they are bursting from their graves as demons in disguises, creatures pretending, criminals lying, to get their victim to lower their guard, to get them under their spell!

"It's okay." Anfisa whispers, her voice gentle and cracking under her own confused feelings. "I know you're scared. I was scared, at first; because humans and demons are alike in many ways…They more often than not work together…"

Kathalina swallows and her brow furrows, but she doesn't trust her voice to ask _what are you?_ But she remains quiet to listen. Kathalina _is_ trapped to whatever will happen to her; might as well make sure not to anger the girl and risk having to die painfully.

"…I couldn't tell the difference sometimes, especially under forced influence…but when I was finally free, I realized the differences weren't intrinsic with each species. There are demons and humans who are kind…Marcelin Halfield, his classmates, their proctor Mr. Sparda (Kathalina's heart beats faster as she feels a coldness run through her system, making her hair stand up), the farmers, the neighbors here…and of course, the lost babies…"

"Babies?" Kathalina feels too horrified at this point—

Anfisa's lips curl. "My Prowlers."

The blood that ran through her veins grows colder and colder, that Kathalina is sure she'll die just sitting here and listening to this horror story.

She continues. "They were crying and helpless. They…needed me. So I helped them. Eventually, though, we realized we were being tracked. We didn't know if they were the same hunters who took us into their chambers. So I made sure our trail was erased. I was relieved to find that they were just police. But one of them, _he_ was _that_ hunter…I saw him kill a lot of demons, even the ones who were captured…"

Anfisa's breathing becomes ragged and her expression darkens. Kathalina's eyes widen, feeling more intensely horrified of Anfisa's indignation. "Didn't he see? Or did he?! Did it matter, _at all,_ to him?!"

Her breathing is deeper, but remains ragged.

"Why?! Why did he kill the ones who were imprisoned? They hadn't seen the outside _for years!_ They've been influenced! There were even humans inside! Transformed beyond recognition! How could he?!"

Anfisa bangs her fists on the table, sending several dinnerwares flying off its surface and making Kathalina jump. "I'm…I'm sorry…"

Then, there are tears on her eyes. Anfisa gives in to the anguish and sorrow as her shoulder sags. "…then when the other opened the other container, he _knew_ something was dangerous inside it. But _he still opened it!_ _He_ _still opened it to kill the poor thing inside!"_

The anguished scream that tore from Anfisa's mouth is long, sorrowful and _furious!_

"Ann!" Kathalina stands up and presses her hands on the girl's shoulders. She felt compelled to do _something._ If calming her down would do something good, then she'd take it, instead of letting this poor girl shriek in the agony of recalling those...those _horrible_ things. "I—I'm sorry. What you've done to save the babies and yourself, they're all _good_ things! You survived! But _this…"_

Anfisa's hazel eyes are wide and clouded with pain, her lips shaking at the flood of tears that will come, but she remains quiet.

"Ann, making these Prowlers hurt people _isn't_ right. You're doing what _they're_ doing, what _they've done_ to you and to the other poor creatures they've captured! I know you want to avenge the ones who were killed, but wouldn't it be better to give them justice?"

Anfisa's lips purse, although out of guilt or disagreement, Kathalina couldn't tell. She continues to reprimand, anyway. "They deserve justice…and _peace_. You need to let the world know about what happened so we can help them and prevent others from suffering, too, not… _this."_

Anfisa is silent, but her tears are now dry. On her knees, Kathalina—against all survival instincts to run and get away from this dangerous creature—places her palm on the girl's face. Kathalina can only hope. "Marcelin deserves the truth. The same thing you told me."

"I know." Anfisa says, although no known emotion is registered through the words. "He will know. On Valentine's."

Kathalina's face contorts into desperation, her own tears spilling. "Please…Ann… _Anfisa_ …Stop this..."

"You know, I didn't want to harm Mr. Sparda, but I think he's been keeping something from you, too."

Once again, Kathalina's hand twitches away from her cheek. But Anfisa's hand shoots up to grab it back and replaces it back to her face. "I won't kill him. I promise."

Kathalina didn't know if what tore out of her mouth was a scream or a squeak, but it could've been both. Her whole body shivers as Anfisa's hold is firm, unmoving, yet she does not hurt her whatsoever.

"Anfisa! Stop!"

Anfisa slowly stands up from the chair, still holding her hand to her cheek. This time, Kathalina was sure about her windows opening by themselves, because they _remained_ open as the winter wind gusts inside her apartment room!

She shivers violently as Anfisa stands tall over her, her long dark hair whipping along with the snowflakes that entered her home.

"Don't worry." Her voice remains _too_ gentle for comfort. Then quiet footsteps come closer to the two women. Kathalina can't see them, but _she knew_ what they are. She can feel their breaths against her face as her eyes and mouth widen in horror. "We'll still have a Happy Valentine's Day."

Kathalina knew their hands would be all over her—

—instead a dazzling blue light interrupts the whole horrifying situation, and—as strange as it is—she felt comforted by the mysterious light!

The heart-shaped balloon floats haltingly towards Kathalina, but a Prowler swipes angrily at it. The claw marks appear against its plastic-red surface, ripping it open and revealing more blue light, more blinding now that it first appeared.

"NO!" Anfisa roared angrily and the Prowlers, invisible at first, reveal themselves with a fury!

To Kathalina, they look to be almost _human_ , except for their retracting, long claws, highly-veined skin and long hair (or fur) that reaches the floor. All four Prowlers are nude and radiated heat from their skin, making them invincible against the winter they had been causing.

A female Prowler emits a high-pitched braying sound—

" _NYAAAAAAHHHHHG!"_

—causing Kathalina to cover her ears—as it locks its fierce eyes on the balloon, floating proudly against the strong wind; it lunges in lightning speed at the unassuming object, aiming her claws at the center of it.

As she spears through, however, another blinding flash of blue emits from its inflated form, but this time, _three swords_ gouge themselves at the balloon's assailant, _painfully staggering_ the creature back! The three other Prowlers lunge as well, but this time the balloon has anticipated this; it _spins_ on its spot and a _dozen or more of the same bright swords_ appear to surround the balloon!

Still spinning on its spot, the swords successfully _pierce_ its four opponents, impaling them on the apartment floor or against the walls. They writhe in pain and in anger, flailing their limbs and their heads futilely against the solid corners and surfaces they are stuck to!

With Anfisa simply glaring at the balloon, Kathalina is simply _horrified_ at how the impaled Prowlers continue to _writhe_ and _convulse_ against the walls and floor, bleeding profusely and hissing in frustration.

"It's enchanted!" One of the Prowlers exclaimed, which may mean they've figured out why the balloon is sentient and hostile against them. To Kathalina, that's all the explanation she needs regarding the balloon's supernatural nature.

As if to answer to that, the balloon spins once and _launches_ one blade towards Anfisa!

Kathalina would've still mourned, knowing the girl she had just had garlic soup with would suddenly drop dead from a hurled blade…

But Anfisa continues to shock her when she lifted her other hand to gesture a halting sign, her palm exposed! The blade that was meant to pierce her head stops midair in front of her palm. The blade quivers on its spot, threatening to continue what it intends to do, but unfortunately an invisible force _disintegrates_ the blade until it vanishes into thin air!

Taking this slim opportunity, Kathalina stands up from where she knelt and tried to go to the open window, _anything_ to get away from this!

But Anfisa's other hand—the one that presses hers to the girl's cheek—claws desperately for her to reel her back. Kathalina stumbles as she does her best to escape, while all four Prowlers threaten to free themselves from the impaling blades they are pinned by.

The balloon continues to rain upon them blades summoned from thin air, ensuring they're not released from the floor and the walls. The balloon, however, is unsuccessful in getting its swords to impale Anfisa, as each launching blade stops and quivers in midair, before disappearing in broken, phantom pieces.

" _No!_ You need to know! You need to come _with me!_ " Anfisa is shrieking, yet Kathalina wonders why none of the neighbors inside the boarding house have been roused and banging on her door, to try to stop this madness! But did she have to wonder? Kathalina had been trapped ever since she let Anfisa inside—

 _Oh God! I spoke about Vergil! I spoke about him to her!_

"Let. Me. GO!" Kathalina knew how futile this is, but her window remains open and the outside remains calm, and quiet—!

Anfisa nimbly wraps her arms around Kathalina's torso and begins to _carry_ her. Kathalina fights back by kicking backwards, trying to trip the girl from behind. Her free elbows flail back to hit Anfisa's face while she aggressively wriggles herself free from her grasp. They ended up falling on the floor, with Anfisa desperately pinning her legs down so she wouldn't escape.

"Vergil _won't_ save you!" Anfisa's shrilly and angry voice only infuriates Kathalina's need to escape, _crawling_ if needed. "You're coming with me!"

And with all her might, Kathalina lifts the same hand she had placed on Anfisa's cheek and makes painful contact across her face! The smack was _strong_ enough to make her head going into another direction, as her body reels from being hit.

Standing immediately, Kathalina runs the remaining gap towards her window to escape—

—only for the female Prowler to hurl herself from the wall and bury her underneath its heavy, humanoid body!

Her shoulder _bangs_ against the windowsill, collides _headfirst_ against the wall, before she finally feels her head _violently bouncing_ against the hardwood floor. The explosive pain that erupts from the back of her head is telling of her critical condition. She moans from the pain and from the Prowler finally getting off her, feeling the air coming back into her lungs after the weight had been lifted.

The whole room blurs, rocking back and forth as fresh tears prick at the corner of her eyes. Despite this, she can see the light of the lampposts outside, softly illuminating the quiet February winter, bringing with it soft, floating snowflakes, while her whole apartment begins to darken around her, engulfing her, suffocating her into an unknown oblivion.

* * *

Vergil has no time to deal with this, so he plans to _impale_ this Prowler long enough to teleport to the Halfield house!

So when the creature _did_ lunge at him, Vergil immediately teleports from his spot; replacing him was a legion more of the summoned swords that _shoot up_ to pierce themselves on the foolish Prowler!

The howl is evident that the swords have impaled the Prowler once again, but it doesn't stop there; just as the Prowler tries to escape the multitude of blades that continue to stab him, dark blue shadows engulf him and the blades, _teleporting them from the spot!_

Twenty feet above the wrecked car, the dark blue, shadowy orb reappears!

It releases the onslaught of blades that continue to _skewer through_ the Prowler's body, as he falls back to the ground! With a painful crunch, his body is _crucified_ to the ground, pinning him face down, with the legion of blades continuing to _rain down_ upon him to keep him there!

From above, the blue shadows dance and reform, revealing Vergil and his katana, launching himself _down_ to make the final strike!

With Vergil's ferocious cry, his katana—Yamato—gouge the Prowler's head, with his blade sinking _two feet deep_ into the ground!

" _You're not going anywhere!"_ Vergil rages as the Prowler continues to writhe aggressively against the numerous swords that stills him to the ground. Knowing the creature's regenerative abilities is as rapid as its behavior for destruction, Vergil huffs an irritated breath and summons a blade, directly pointing it to the creature's head—

" _Professor?!"_ Came a very familiar voice.

Vergil's blood runs cold. He whirls around to come face-to-face with a familiar brunet-haired student, Marcelin Halfield, running towards him!

And he's not alone. Vergil's eyes squints at Marcelin's companion, who innocently sips his iced coffee, watching the commotion with bored disinterest.

There are limitations to how Cloaking works. Humans shouldn't be underestimated for their vulnerable organic makeup, as their senses are just as sharp and their will to enact whatever they set their mind to should be something to be wary of. With that said, however, with the exception of naturally-born psychics or seers, if a human really _did_ want to look for supernatural—or sometimes, for either entertainment value or out of curiosity, a demonic—activity, they'd have to be prepared and knowledgeable, they'd have _intentions_ for wanting to see these beings, unless the beings aren't Cloaking themselves. Otherwise, a hapless human who isn't really looking into whatever this is, a human shouldn't be seeing Vergil _gutting_ a creature with his blades, whilst his wrecked Firearrow coupe sits in the middle of the road.

Vergil had almost exclaimed how _he_ could see this, but stops and concentrates on impaling the Prowler's shoulder instead with another summoned blade. The visceral sound of a blade puncturing flesh bristle Marcelin, but that doesn't deter him from approaching.

"Not any closer!" Vergil warns and Marcelin stops mid-step, his expression fearful. Vergil then turns to his companion. "And you! _Don't you dare…!"_

"Professor, chill! He's my neighbor here! Please! Stop doing—whatever this is!"

And something clicks in Vergil's head. But there's no time for that now…

Quicker than an eye blinking, Vergil _sprints_ toward his student, wraps his arms around him and they disappear within the swirling fog of blue.

Marcelin's companion slurps the final contents of his iced coffee as he approaches the Prowler. "Damn…" He mutters nonchalantly and tosses the empty cup somewhere.

The Prowler growled angrily. "Get me outta here and _let's go!"_

* * *

They reappear inside the Halfield's residence, in its house's small, main hallway. Marcelin stumbles backwards, trying his best to get away from his teacher as much as possible. Vergil, however, stoically stands, blocking the front door with his hand clasped on a _very_ long sheathed sword.

"S-s-stay back!" Marcelin's panic puts him into the corner of the hallway, one hand outstretched as his only way of defending himself. "My dad's a hunter! He'll—He'll—"

"So am I…secretly, of course." Vergil announces calmly, like claiming how they need an umbrella on a rainy day. "Your father is, unfortunately, in league with a questionable group of hunters, who are partnered with these Creep of very aggressive Prowlers, led by someone who wants my head on a platter, or so my associates had confirmed they have the ability to do so, _so far_. Prowlers usually keep to themselves and come out on Spring and Summer. This Creep, however, wants to suck every bit of warmth this place has, before moving into major cities to absorb more heat, until winter becomes a permanent fixture. Kind of like the White Witch of Narnia."

Despite his fear, Marcelin's eyes blink in confusion, shaking his head at every word Vergil is telling him. His mouth manages to form words, however, at the mention of his father. "My dad…he was speaking to a bunch of people a few weeks ago…I don't know who they are and I know they aren't locals, at least here in La Piuma…"

Vergil remains quiet as his jaw tightens, his eyes squinting at Marcelin, then around the whole interior of the house. His gaze remains much more fixed on a wall, to his right. Marcelin is confused, seeing as it looks _ridiculous_ looking at his professor, who's looking at a wall. But he follows his gaze and realizes that he seems to be looking at another part of the house, its eastern side…

"That's the kitchen, uh, sir." Marcelin manages to say despite his quaking, frightened self. He figured his professor may have X-ray vision and is looking _beyond_ the wall. "It's locked, always. The backdoor, I mean."

"I hope it _was_ when you snuck out with your girlfriend this morning." Vergil's tone is pointedly stern. "Wouldn't want any _intruders_ inside."

Marcelin scoffs at being reprimanded, but it had no bite to it as he continues to shake in the corner. "Come on, professor! The only _real trouble_ I'm really in right now, is realizing my _teacher's a hunter_! And _probably_ not human!"

Vergil remains stoic and calm, but the danger of having this house surrounded in seconds is making him more at edge.

It's foolish to come here, further putting this boy in danger and himself as bait, yet the urgent need to finally put the nails upon this coffin is important in finding the answers.

 _This person wants me and my brother dead, but they needed time...and resources to do so, and they seem willing to drown this town in winter. They will likely move forward in doing the same to other towns and cities, confirming their very extreme nature. Furthermore, this person was also able to grow these Prowlers in a matter of weeks,_ if they are _the same group of missing younglings from the black market. They managed to befriend my student, as well, effectively getting closer…They know who they're looking for and knew who to be connected with._

"This new friend of yours," Vergil suddenly starts, which did make Marcelin jump from his spot. "When did you meet? And where? How intimately did you divulge personal information?"

Marcelin's eyes squint in confusion, but he searches the ground as if the answers are there. "Uh…My girlfriend introduced him to me, just a few days ago. Says he's from Fortuna Island, but he just moved here, on the small apartment complex a few blocks from this neighborhood. He and my girlfriend work together in a diner. She's a waitress."

Vergil heaves a long sigh of frustration. He has no evidence, only a hypothesis that the Prowlers have befriended his student to get some information about Vergil, or about his brother. Marcelin could already be dating one of the Prowlers, but…

No! If his girlfriend _is_ a Prowler, wouldn't Vergil have already sensed her true nature?

"Who else is your girlfriend acquainted with? Did she introduce anyone? Does she know about these Prowlers?"

Marcelin shakes his head profusely. "She's actually very shy. She'd only introduce me to the only one she's friends with. She also doesn't have any immediate family…" Then Marcelin becomes quiet, his mouth slacking open. "My dad only met her once. I thought he was overreacting when he met her…dad was so jumpy and nervous around her, but he and Ann had a private talking-through about the two of us hanging out and dating. After that, she insists not bothering to come inside the house again. But she did give me one little gift—"

Vergil's eyes widen. He crosses the distance between him and his student, and shakes his shoulders. "What sort of gift did she give you? And when and where did you meet her?"

Marcelin's eyes were already very wide, but it becomes moist in tears. He couldn't speak, but he keeps shaking his head.

"Marcelin! _Focus!_ "

It was only after that last word did Marcelin push his teacher away to run upstairs to his room. Following suit, Vergil watches the young man practically force his way inside his own bedroom; panting, Marcelin pulls open his desk's drawer and rummages inside, until he procures something that makes Vergil's own blood run cold.

"Here." Marcelin stretches out his arm to present the object on his hand for Vergil to hold. When he found the will to lift his hand to take the object, Vergil _knew_ he had endangered their lives when he _failed_ the black market mission with Dante and when they stepped foot on that field trip before Christmas vacation.

Vergil's lips shake before he could mutter the words with fear. "It was my fault..."

Marcelin's small gasp is immediately replaced with another shake of his head. "No. I met her there. I thought she was a farmer's daughter, or something. I didn't know. _You_ didn't know."

Vergil's brows furrow and close his eyes. His students were there, the Biology teacher was there, the bus drivers, botanists, guards…Kathalina was there—

"Kathalina!"

And just like that, Vergil doubles over; an indescribable pain suddenly pierces his heart, _twisting each of the nerves_ that keep it together. His lungs are suddenly filled with _fire,_ making him choke and cough violently!

"Professor!" Marcelin immediately goes to his teacher's side, trying to support him long enough to walk him to a chair. But Vergil's weight and size compliments the agony that threatens to make both of them fall.

Still clutching the object, Vergil's body gives in to the pain and kneels to the floor, coughing _nothing_ but air, his body heaving to defend itself from a pain that's making Vergil grit his teeth! He pushes his student away from him, fearing he might accidentally hit him, but in the process, the object falls from his hand and it _crashes_ on the floor!

Marcelin stands, silent and shocked as he watches in fear and despair at his university teacher, on all fours on his bedroom, his throat and body hacking and convulsing at this mysterious pain he suddenly has!

He can see that Vergil's skin has turned a bluer, paler complexion, especially when he turns up to look at his student. His face has turned shades of blue and purple, translucent to reveal sickly veins; his eyes water and _swell_ , and when he opens his mouth, his voice is hoarse and dry.

"I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…Kathalina—!" Vergil, despite clutching his neck and coughing profusely, manages to lift his hand and touch _something_ in thin air!

"What about her, teach? What happened to Ms. Lombardo?" Marcelin kneels next to his teacher, his eyes focused, trying to glean any useful information from this sudden delirium his professor is having.

"…forgive me…the balloon…"

Marcelin can only shake his head at the confoundedness of what he just said. But his gaze travels lower and unto the floor, where the smashed object is.

Anfisa had given him an adorable little Mitis Bloom; native in humid to continental climates and can be found in Fortuna's forest, it is one of the hardiest plants that can withstand winter. Coming mostly in vibrant reds and deeper shades of violet, it had grown considerably since December, but still compact enough to be brought with just one hand. Marcelin had made sure to water it once a week; it was out of its drawer before Marcelin leaves to school, to get its needed sunlight, and back inside it when he returns, to ensure it doesn't get frozen during its off-season.

A question now floats around Marcelin's mind: _Was it cursed?_

Marcelin holds his teacher's shoulders and does his best to pull him up. "C'mon, sir. You can use the bed— _Aaarrgh!_ "

Looking up to see the window of his bedroom was a _big mistake._ But how did he not even _see_ the moving shadows of _five Prowlers_ leering at them from the outside, their teeth wide and sharp, their eyes glowing, their breaths puffing against the window glass and their nude, strong bodies mocking them?

Perhaps because he was too worried for his professor, who is still coughing and unable to stand on his own.

Marcelin could only drag his professor low into the floor, but that wouldn't really stop the Prowlers from breaking into the room. Marcelin's breath hitches as he recognizes his coffee-drinking companion from earlier, pressed against the glass and huffing puffs of breath, his eyes like a predator impatiently peering into its prey.

* * *

 _Apologies for the cliffhanger! This chapter has gone on long enough, so I needed to cut it._

 _If anybody feels that Vergil is out of character, lemme know so I can improve!_

 _I truly commend Classic Vergil fan-fic writers, of every genre you put him into. He's such a stern character that didn't get enough game story, but hey, that's what fanfiction is for, right?_

 _Also, I apologize for the whole world-building thing with Fortuna and Enamel City, etc., and regarding how their secret demon-hunting business even works. It isn't the main focal point, but I've spent a lot of time on it because I feel that demon-hunting in Dante's world/DMC in general appears to be a very unappealing job that seems to connote taboos or something, so I wanted to flesh out the twins' emotions about demon hunting._

 _And if anyone feels like negatively saying about the poorly written detective-thriller-vibe from both Vergil and Dante, yes, I abhor myself for even trying. I'll be ranting about that in my heart's content on my blog, where I do want to critique myself. Also, will probs post some sources about how to write thrillers (oh boy, it's a doozy!)_

 _Lastly, if there is anything I don't have any regrets writing, it's Dante \\\^O^\\\\! Whereas Vergil was difficult, Dante flowed easier. Having four installments about him/half being his story is definitely very easy for Dante fanfic writers_


	3. Chapter 3: Winter's Fury

_I want to finish all my incomplete fan fics._

This chapter is going to be action-oriented, so here I'm letting Vergil and Dante shine with what they do best!

Questions and comments are actually welcome. You can message me on tumblr, too: beesliltales9229

* * *

Chapter 3: Winter's Fury

"We bring her with us." Anfisa commands her children, her gaze on Kathalina somewhat sympathetic as she didn't want to scare and hurt her, but Anfisa can work with this.

 _She'll understand._

She turns to the sentient balloon, still confidently hovering in the room, but its light is no longer as dazzling as it was.

It reacted when it had sensed her children coming close into this apartment room, not to her when she came inside, which means neither of the twin hunters have any _idea_ what she is. _Good. We still have the upper hand. Although it caught me unawares, it was an underhanded tactic to use a forgettable object for his enchantment._

She had planned to silently take Kathalina from her apartment, make her unconscious immediately while she gathered new information about the whereabouts of the other twin hunter. Unfortunately, Anfisa couldn't _resist_ the pull of humanity's good-naturedness.

" _Oh, it's a pinky swear!"_

Anfisa closes her eyes hard, to concentrate on her plans, before it's destroyed by her own sadness. She had wanted to divulge Kathalina of Vergil's secrets differently, but truthfully, she didn't know _how._ She knew she'd be scared of her before being scared of Vergil's true nature, so there really is nothing to gain in trying to hide what she _is_ , despite revealing Vergil's.

It was only a matter of time. And time, in Anfisa's case, may soon be running out.

If Anfisa wants a successful vengeance, they need to take advantage of the winter season as much as possible and from there it will become easier to take over all of Fortuna City. And perhaps beyond.

After that…

They can lead and take care of this world, with Anfisa as caretaker…

 _No one will be taken from their homes. No one will be hurt or slain for profit. Everyone will be at peace…_

As her younger male Prowler carefully scoops Kathalina from the floor, Anfisa and her three others surround the balloon into a corner.

With her hands outstretched in front of her, she forms her hands as if she's holding something round between her fingers. Her gaze is intensely locked onto the balloon, its blue light gradually dimming.

Her three Prowlers grit their teeth mockingly, darkly guffawing and playfully swiping at the balloon with their long claws; on a fifth swipe, the balloon spins slowly in its spot and a spark of illumination flickers momentarily, until the heavy hand of the biggest Prowler _smashes_ the balloon against the wall, _cracking_ the surface!

Pinning the magical heart-shaped balloon helplessly against the wall, Anfisa concentrates on delivering her curse to finally lift Vergil's little protective enchantment—

 _"Hnngg…"_ But she struggles. Something is wrong.

Now using more of her might, Anfisa focuses on absorbing the power within the little object, but it _refuses._ The dimming light flickers inside the balloon, _still_ resolute in protecting Kathalina.

Concentrating harder, Anfisa feels its power finally give and she is soon absorbing it, as wisps of blue light leave the balloon and float 'inside' the orb within Anfisa's hands. Slowly, the balloon begins to sag, becoming smaller and smaller within the Prowler's hand. He heaves an amused chuckle and insults it, seeing as the balloon will no longer be able to fight back.

And yet…

As the last wisp of blue swirls within the orb in Anfisa's hands, the balloon remains pinned against the wall until the Prowler pulls his hand away to let it fall, to deflate into the floor, but—

Anfisa gasps as the _balloon_ —sagging plastic and all— _floats_ _out_ of the crack of the wall!

Surrounding the balloon now are these darker streaks of blue tendrils, whipping about violently whenever one of the Prowlers tries to attack.

Dark tendrils _whip out_ to attack at Anfisa, its stinging tendril _cuts_ across her cheek, with the momentum of the impact sending her crashing on the dinner table!

She had still been holding her orb of the absorbed power; but now that a new, _darker_ chaos is unleashed, her hold on the orb vanishes and the light blue wisps escape, flying everywhere in graceful arcs across the apartment room, once again _blazing_ the whole environment with its warm blue color!

Gathering herself up again, Anfisa opens her arms wide and splays her hand as she summons the dark winds! The whole apartment room begins to _rattle and shake violently_ , at the mercy of the battling forces!

Her Prowlers roar, trying to produce shockwaves that will hinder the power Vergil had bestowed into the object! But it seems to further stir the new power inside the balloon!

The dazzling blues and whipping tendrils come at them in different directions, violently dancing across the apartment room, unpredictable in their movement and precise in their attacks!

The Prowlers _evade,_ countering with their loud roaring and creating their own gusts of wind to _cut_ against the dark tendrils, but it only seem to multiply and surround them all _further!_

The balloon itself has _inflated_ once again, looking as if it had never received damage at all!

The shattered pictures, clawed walls, broken pots and dinnerware, furniture and other personal paraphernalia _are thrown_ from their places and _shatter_ to another corner of the apartment room, as violent gusts of wind, powerful bursts of sound waves and dashing wisps of blues overpower one another!

While the chaos _swirled_ in a flurry of dark, cold winds within her apartment, Kathalina remains unconscious and guarded by five furious blue wisps that circle around her, ensuring no harm is done to her by a Prowler or a random shattered glass!

The dark blue tendrils begin to coalesce with the blue wisps, forming into thicker shrouds of dark blue! No matter how hard they fought, the shroud thickens and it threatens to swallow _all of them_ into the dark blue abyss it's forming!

The balloon becomes encased in blinding _darkness,_ that the illumination of the street lamps outside flicker dangerously, affected by the chaos and darkness inside. As the abyss grows, it threatens in engulfing all in its shroud!

Anfisa's furious gusts of wind and snow stubbornly try to _pierce_ through the blackness of the abyss the balloon has created, but she knows this is a futile attempt to quell it!

Her children howl in agony, their strength and power sucked into the black void, and drop to their knees, begging for it to stop!

With the last of her power, Anfisa's eyes are swallowed by a red color, glowing furiously; her skin becomes paler and translucent, her veins pulsating within, showing a sickly glow to each strand of vein on her bare skin; the gust of winds become smoke, encircling the abyss, threatening it to make a move!

"You will…cease…this, _AT ONCE!"_

With all her strength fighting against Vergil's last strand of magic, the two massive forces _collide,_ their final ball of strike—Anfisa's gusts of hailstorm and winds, and Vergil's ominous black abyss—and all that could be made out was the most _deafening crack of thunder_ and a release of explosive force coiled within!

The two massive forces are felt within half a mile, creating a mild tremor across the boarding house and outside! The lights from the street lamps near the boarding house suddenly go out, bathing most of the sidewalk, a nearby wooded park and the perimeter of the building in darkness.

All was dark except inside one room, on the third floor!

It was all _blindingly white_ for three seconds, but it ultimately became dimmed once again, joining the rest of the environment in complete darkness.

It seemed over.

The apartment is filled with nothing but the thick shroud of dark blue mist and the flicker of thunder _echoing_ across its hazy clouds.

Strangely, the dark mist never escapes the interior of her apartment, not even moving at all when a soft winter wind comes to soothe the aftermath from the open windows. Because of the thickness of the mist, not one familiar object can be visibly seen, until perhaps the object is brought up five inches in a line of sight.

Electricity has failed within the whole boarding house and tenants who are shaken by the 'earthquake' are roused with further anxiety.

They continue to wait for the police they've called almost fifteen minutes ago. So, they anxiously wait. Perhaps they should also call an electrician…

Something stirs Kathalina awake. The first thought that occurred to her was how cold the apartment floor is, but then she begins to raise other questions, such as 'is she alive?', 'is this her apartment?', 'Where's Ann?'…

She immediately recollects what had happened to her and she whimpers. She let fear paralyze her to the floor, not knowing what to _do_ , what to even _expect_ if she sees something with her eyes.

It was her ears that let her notify movement.

She can hear heavy footsteps come close, careful and methodical footsteps. It isn't being too wary or quiet; whoever it is, there footfalls are apparent and they want to be known.

Her eyes remain heavily-lidded, not trusting that her vision could only see the slow dance of blue mist around her nor even capable of moving every major part of her. There is still that pain across the back of her head. It made her feel that she can endanger herself if she tried to turn her head, even carefully. She is, however, thankful to move her arms little by little, at least trying to find _something_ within reach. She isn't sure what to reach for, but she stupidly hopes it would be her phone—

The slow footsteps are closer and Kathalina feels her heart thumping. It's eerily _familiar_ , the way the footfalls are methodically stepping forward, the clacking soles of his thick, well-made shoes elegantly meets the wooden floor…

"Vergil?"

She forgot about her phone and about how dangerous turning her head could be so she could just look up and finally find one _truth_ in all of this.

Peering through the thick shrouds of blue mist that she clearly doesn't know how it had happened, it moves rapidly away now, as something big and solid has disturbed the air. Kathalina's breath hitches as the footsteps stop _next_ to her; she anticipates him kneeling in front of her, feeling his long, thick fingers on her, his stern gaze melting into concern as his blue eyes twinkle, reflecting her face—

Her hand twirls on a very thin, singed object. Confused, her fingers weakly pull the object forward and sees her heart-shaped balloon floating feebly next to her, mere inches from the ground.

And she couldn't help the tears falling down her eyes. The balloon is _shredded_ , its string cut shorter and the synthetic red paint is peeling from the balloon's surface, revealing its reflective, dull grey elastic skin.

Kathalina felt like she was staring at a mirror—or rather to a window, as she gazes at the feeble balloon, revealing her how _pathetic_ she is for knowing so little.

She always hated that feeling. She hated being belittled for knowing nothing or not knowing enough; she hated secrets, lies, being manipulated, and being faulted for being _so gullible_.

Her mother was negligent, manipulative and cruel, but she was _right_ to teach Kathalina that being knowledgeable, being smarter and not falling for shallow, naïve, misguided emotions is the core to surviving this world.

" _You remember your father?! He loves his work so much, he ended up dead! Now you see what he's been up to? Hah! You can end up like him for all I care, unless you smarten up!"_

And 'smarten' up she did. She left her when she went to college and didn't have to see her again, unless it was a call from the elderly care center, which she's grateful is rare.

But now, it feels like she's returned to the things she fears the most. And this balloon did _nothing_ but show her how weak she was for falling in love.

For falling for someone who she thought she _knew_. But she knew little!

Hell, Kathalina never wanted to know, or was afraid of knowing too much, for fear of rejection, for fear of being so _undeserving_ of anything good, for fear of being never enough at all, to anyone!

Kathalina barely knows Vergil, limited only by her own professional observations; and she may never have any opportunities again, because she had long crippled herself, maimed her courage and her curiosity, her innocence…most especially her own self-worth.

With those thoughts, she lets her tears fall, lets her weakness and fear cradle her; it's funny how she only has the strength to cry. Perhaps having never cried since she left her mother for her new taste of freedom, her body could only weep.

"I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…Kathalina…"

That had almost made her stop crying when she hears _his voice_ , feeble it may be; when she opens her eyes, she is shocked to see _him!_ And he looks utterly _devastating!_

Kathalina can see his skin is sickly pale, with veins appearing at the corners of his face and the outer corners of his eyes, which swell in tears and making it puffy red. He hacks and even manages to clutch at his throat, as if something had been lodged inside—

 _How am I seeing him? The blue fog in this place...is he really here? Or...I'm dreaming…_

It's another reason for her to cry. Perhaps her emotions have finally been spilled from the cold, steely heart she had crafted over the years, which they now yearn for approval or simply for release.

And here, Kathalina must be _hallucinating_ a vision of Vergil, hovering above her, as translucent and phantom-like as anyone's shadow would be at five feet away, covered in the mist, but somehow much closer, with him kneeling beside her, apologizing at her while he suffers in a violent coughing fit.

She must _hate_ herself so much for conjuring up such a vision, of wanting pain upon someone, despite now knowing that he's hiding something from her. But wishing pain on others was never remotely satisfying to her. If anything, being distant from the source of her pain is more than the weight of gold to her.

Kathalina still loves Vergil; if the truth of his nature will be revealed, then Kathalina can simply distance herself and be free of this, simple as that. She doesn't want pain on someone, no matter how people may think that is justice or otherwise…

"Vergil…" She murmured, which was itself a bad idea. Her throat feels scratchy and she knew she wouldn't be heard, because this _is_ an illusion made by her mind. But she wanted to speak, at least to talk to her broken emotions.

"…no matter what happens…I did have feelings for you…and whatever it is that you have to hide from anyone, you don't have to be afraid of telling me… _especially_ me…if I weigh you down…at least, I want you to know…you're _free_ no matter what, Vergil…"

She expected the hallucination to disappear, because Kathalina is at peace with herself for now. She just wanted to let herself know that she didn't have to always feel so conflicted about her own feelings with people anymore, or with herself; that what she feels for others isn't supposed to weigh them down with her. Now at the brink of death, at least she can finally be at peace with herself.

What she didn't expect was the sudden warmth of _his hand_ across her cheek as he wipes her tears. She bristles at the touch, but she can't move away, still pinned by pain and lying on the cold floor. He _weeps!_ The sound is _agonizing_ and it made her heart _twist_ painfully.

 _How—?_

He is still doubling over, his coughing fit becoming more brutal as he even tries to come up for air, while his own tears paint his cheeks. He can't soothe himself, _at all!_

 _What is going on?_

"Vergil? What…?" And she coughs herself, but it was to relieve the scratch she had been feeling for a while. Vergil, on the other hand, continues to succumb to his illness.

 _This isn't a hallucination!_

He then manages to open his mouth to let his words go through, even through gritted teeth. "…forgive me…the balloon…"

And that was when Kathalina turns to the feeble object floating beside her. It glows a warm blue, weakly penetrating through the darkness of the shrouding fog; yet comforting in a way that makes her feel she isn't alone.

"I'm here, Vergil." Her breath hitches in excitement. Oh, how she _wants_ to reach through the fog to embrace him…

She manages to lift the same hand that touched the singed string of the balloon to try to touch his pale skin.

She sucks in her breath as Kathalina can _feel_ his skin!

And it feels damp; as cold perspiration covers his sickly pale skin, while a trickle of his tears come down to softly touch her finger. Still uncertain _how_ she is able to touch him, she hesitantly cups her palm on his cheek and she whispers her words of courage.

"Vergil…I…I will see you. I _want_ to see you. And we'll talk it out." He manages to nod his head as he coughs even more, his shoulders slumping further. "I wish I could help in stopping that."

Kathalina could see how he's having difficulty in getting a good look at her; his eyes squint and water, coughing and _heaving_ in haggard breaths, his chest rising and deflating—

—and Kathalina realizes how the balloon reacts similarly: when Vergil coughs, the light flickers a dimmer shade from the balloon. When he breathes and heaves a lungful of air, the light brightens momentarily, but only to almost extinguish itself; like a flickering blue candle with its wavering, comforting light.

She doesn't lower her hand, she didn't want to. This could be the last time—

Red eyes suddenly glow from behind the warm phantom of Vergil kneeling beside her; Kathalina's breath hitches as her legs involuntary try to get her up to run—!

" _AAAAHHH!"_ Came the blood-curdling shriek of the girl from behind, her mouth wide with rage and her hands curled towards destroying this moment!

Like a vengeful ghost, Anfisa _launches_ herself from where she had been hidden by the mist and _flies_ to lunge her hands on Kathalina and the balloon! Her hand is _dead cold_ against Kathalina's face and a _flash_ of white light in front of her eyes could've blinded her—!

But those are all she could comprehend as the last of her conscious efforts to stay awake is taken from her. Kathalina, once again, lays unconscious against the cold apartment floor, with the dead balloon finally exhausted of all its power.

"We bring her with us." Anfisa commands her children, preparing to leave the place and to hunt down Vergil's foolhardy brother. With Kathalina, Anfisa need not guess if Vergil will come to play the hunter, or baited prey…

When the police arrive, the neighbors' first instinct was to check the third floor, to where Kathalina lives.

Little Josh couldn't sleep, as the flickering lights inside his home and his little night light keeps acting up and it spooked him. He had decided to sneak a peek through the front door while his parents join the commotion outside. He soon realizes, from the whispers and sudden shrieks from elder neighbors, that Kathalina is missing and her home had been 'ransacked', as he had heard one of the grown-ups say. The police are talking to their walkie-talkies, report numbers and the boarding house's address. The cops also made sure that everybody is accounted for inside the boarding house; they realize one more tenant is missing and the cops are granted access to Anfisa's home. She's missing, too, and the cops enter her apartment room; having seen a lot of cop shows with his dad, Josh suspects they're looking for evidence.

All the grown-ups do keep repeating the same thing, after some of the cops came out of Kathalina's room: a demon attack!

Josh ran back inside his bedroom when his parents were told to return after they were questioned by the cops. He hid inside his covers and prayed, prayed for the pretty librarian who gave him a library card and the awesome superhero books called " _The Great Adventures of Dee-stabilize, Bee-Sting and Skeedadle!"_ on his birthday and Christmas. And the other pretty girl with long dark hair and hazel eyes, who babysat him while his parents are doing overtime in their office, singing him songs in a strange language, playing with him and even letting him eat junk food after a meal full of vegetables…

Josh lay silently that night while he heard his parents shuffle uneasily outside his bedroom, trying to hear anything about what the cops had found out so far. But soon he does fall asleep, but with his hands still clasped together, underneath his bed covers.

* * *

The plan involved annihilation. With his body renewed of energy and the heartbreaking image of his love being _hexed_ to unconsciousness… _it_ _shall be!_

"Professor?" Marcelin's shaky voice reflected how frightened he is and, at first, Vergil thought he was merely concerned for him; but the dance of the shadows and evil intent that leered at them from outside Marcelin's bedroom window became clear that his student has been concerned with an entirely different thing!

The clarity in Vergil's eyes returned and takes lungfuls of air. The sound of his breathing is so deep, a quivering sensation is felt even though Marcelin's shoes!

 _Inhale, exhale…_

 _Kathalina…_

Just as quickly as it had come, his coughing subsided, his sickly pale skin and dark veins have reverted to a normal color, and have disappeared; his strength returned and his _rage_ threatens to erupt and liquefy everything his senses can reach!

He looks to his student and, gripping Marcelin's shoulder, instructs him to stay. "Do not call your father. He's _already_ in trouble."

Marcelin manages to scoff. "Bet he is…"

Gradually standing up, Vergil's cold blue eyes seem to blaze in the dimly lit room. The electrical lights from within half a mile flicker dangerously while the winds outside begin to pick up speed; the floating, slow dance of the snow becomes a whipping, untamed race to the ground, a wild backdrop against the leering, _groaning_ , blood-shot eyed creatures that threaten to break the window and _lunge_ at him, if they aren't already all over the house!

With a gracious turn of his head, Vergil looks behind his student one last time. "Cover your ears."

Marcelin does as he was told, still huddled near his bed. As he digs his digits inside his ear hole, Marcelin was _still_ brought to the level beyond horror and amazement as his professor _transforms_ right in front of his eyes!

As the Prowlers' _ear-splitting,_ unified roars of war and bloodshed surround his futilely-muffled ears, Vergil battles the noise with his own! A blinding blue aura _shrouds_ the environment, forcing Marcelin's eyes to squint from the bathing of sudden blue!

In tandem with the blue shroud was a _rumbling sound_ , close to how geysers writhe and boil the liquid beneath the land before eruption; but the sound lasted for only a full second, replaced now with the _highly-charged_ light and sound of lightning dancing across his professor's newly-transformed body!

"Holy shit..."

With his bedroom still bathed in blue light and now completely electrically-charged, the electronic appliances _instantly_ react from the lightning that cascades all over the new glistening—and _terrifying—_ body, standing proudly in the middle of his bedroom, threatening to shatter or fry everything from the overload!

His professor—or _whoever_ this creature is!—languidly speaks to him again without turning to face him. Perhaps he had considered his student's overall mental health if he sees his face!

"Stay here." It definitely _is_ Mr. Sparda's voice, but now _filtered_ through a kind of metallic guise, yet _amplified_ as if the room itself spoke the words.

Marcelin didn't answer nor did Vergil wait for one. Impatience had become the new trait, as the Prowlers gestured to _dare_ him to come and kill them!

"Wanna dance?" Vergil asks with uncharacteristic smugness.

And with the sudden _darkness_ that replaced the blue, Marcelin feels his sight might be going _wrong,_ as the image of his professor blurs and _quiver_ in front of him—!

Another shroud of blue and he _vanishes_ from the spot! But the sudden blood-curdling, _vicious_ sounds of howling, shrieking and cries from _just outside_ his window is telling him that a fight is occurring there!

Standing up and hurrying to the window, Marcelin jumps back when a Prowler is _splattered_ right at the glass surface of his window! He is, unfortunately, still alive, and only manages to shake his head to alleviate the pain of having his _stomach sliced open,_ before hopping powerfully off the window to join the violent fray—

—that seems to be _happening two stories above ground level!_

To Marcelin's eyes, the battle outside appear as quick _blurs:_ from naked, long-haired creatures that are visible on their stance on the ground—or whatever surface or facade the Prowlers cling to—they suddenly become dashes across the air, when they launch themselves with their claws out, aiming to dig or strike at his professor!

And their _roars and shrieks!_ Marcelin kept his ears plugged as he watches what his eyes could perceive of the battle, as each individual quaking roar, long shrill or even manic laughter do their best to damage his own eardrums. But as evident to the slow-forming cracks on his window and the slight quake of the floor, Marcelin hopes the Prowlers throats dry up pretty soon.

As each aggressive and unpredictable Prowler lunge at him in different directions, Vergil _flies_ and teleports, while he strikes and hurls his Summoned Swords directly and _precisely_ to each aggressor, finding a pattern to interrupt their evasion.

Vergil _cannot_ let at least one Prowler standing or clinging idle on a facade, long enough for one to take even a small breath to release _a shockwave_ of cold, brutal sound at him! It will not only cut his own string of attacks and momentum in the air; but if a Prowler produces another brutal sound, it costs the weather another slim chance of spring, summoning winter longer.

And the 'smallest' shockwaves themselves will destroy the neighborhood! Despite his best efforts to Cloak the fight and minimize damage, there's _no way_ in bringing back someone's home!

So, Vergil fights— _fast!_

During his transformation, he had sensed that _twenty-two_ of them are actually already within the three-yard radius, not counting the five _leering_ at them from before.

He had just managed to kill off four that he had to _chase_ , because they keep opening their mouths to _shriek from afar!_ He had sliced the maw of their mouths, gaping wide as they inhaled to roar! After a clean cut across their faces, the lower half of their mouths and jaw comes falling off like a jointed toy being broken off.

But when the first four fell, more gaping maws came to replace their fallen comrades!

Ten of them are all combat-driven, that is to say, they take turns in actually learning how Vergil attacks, evades and counters them; despite Vergil's advantage of speed, the Prowlers have their strength in numbers and tactics! As Vergil summons his phantom blades to surround him as he twirls his _Yamato_ to string this break to another attack, he is caught-off guard when one Prowler _head-on lunges_ his wall of phantom blades!

Reeling from the lunge, Vergil's mid-air stance is broken and he _careens_ to the ground, only to _elegantly_ roll mid-air to get back into his stance—

—but one Prowler from his left flank takes this split-second opening, her claws tightening into a spear to _pierce_ his chest!

Vergil's gutted cry is evident of the contact, as the Prowler intends to pummel him _to the ground!_

But Vergil has other intentions…

He spreads his wings; the gust of wind emits a defensive shockwave that pushes his other attackers back! He takes her with him, _spinning furiously_ like a vortex and disappearing in a cloud of blue—

—only to appear _thirty feet_ higher from where they were, still _spinning furiously_ , and now joined with his phantom blades in his furious blue vortex!

Careening dangerously towards the ground, Vergil impales the Prowler while he continues to _drill_ her with his demonic wings! As a final insult, he sends four of his phantom blades to pierce the dying Prowler!

Flying above them, Vergil spreads his wings and holds his head high! Another highly-charged lightning cascades all over his form, then spreads from the tip of his fingers!

"JUST DIE ALREADY!" A male Prowler—the one who wrecked Vergil's vintage car— _lunges_ himself in the air, opening his mouth wide to _bellow_ a destructive sound wave at him—

—but in a blink of an eye, Vergil _vanishes_ from where he floats! With only a blue contrail as a hint of where he had gone, as well as the subtle sound of a blade slicing the wind itself, the male Prowler is _halved_ at his gut!

The upper and lower bodies careen uselessly from the momentum to the ground, flopping as a rigid corpse on the snowy pavement!

But Vergil's descent _continues_ as he showers the next Prowler with _barrages_ of lightning-fast strikes, then leaving the creature into _bloodied pieces_ to where it used to stand!

Again, quicker than a blink, he does this to another hapless and fearful Prowler, that it tried running for his life! But Vergil was faster!

He caught up behind the creature and _slices_ him up into the air! The momentum sends the creature _flying_ up, with Vergil's maddening strikes coming up to meet him!

Other Prowlers lunge at him to stop his sadistic chain of strikes on their kin, but he _teleports_ from his spot, making the other Prowlers collide awkwardly at their bloodied brother!

But during their collision, Vergil had _surrounded_ them within his circle of Summoned blades!

In his command, the five Prowlers are _pierced and gutted through_ by the ruthless phantom blades! There, they remain in the air like mangled pieces of flesh _skewered_ from different directions!

From all around him, however, the Prowlers have made a collective; they open their mouths and _simultaneously_ roar at his flying form!

Bringing his wings to fold around him, a blue shroud of smoke protects him from the brutal sound waves! Underneath each Prowler, however, begin to form the Summoned Blades!

Their roars are abruptly cut short when they are all _gutted_ from under their bare feet! And from where he floated, Vergil _descends in top speed_ once again, bringing with him a _ruthless_ rain of Phantom Blades!

Each blade _precisely_ pierces and cuts through the creatures that surround the vicinity, but it's Vergil who finishes each one off with a flurry of his quick strikes, elegantly swiping his _Yamato_ at every limb, torso and body part!

As he finishes one off, he uses his scabbard to link another chain of blade attacks to another, and another, and another, and another…

The swift silver blade, long and merciless, _cuts_ through skin, guts and bone like they are mere fabric to be torn apart. Their blood darkens the snow and the sounds of disembowelment and anguish is accompanied by Vergil's wrathfulness and the pure note of his dancing blade.

Vergil is adamant in ensuring they are _decimated_ in his path! His chain of speed attacks are nothing but a dashing and arching blur of his long blade, each strike guarantees nothing but the bloodshed of the creatures that obstruct him!

Until—

A feminine voice, familiar and frail. "Vergil…"

Vergil comes to a halt, his eyes widening.

Just six feet from where Vergil finishes a Prowler off in mid-air, was Marcelin's coffee-drinking friend…well, _ex-friend,_ that is. Languidly bringing up a phone to show him someone, the same bored disinterest is written on his features. "Alpha wants to speak to you."

Mid-pose in having the full length of _Yamato_ through a Prowler's eye socket, Vergil glares at his cool disposition; in one deft movement, he simultaneously pulls out the blade from the Prowler's eye socket, swiping the blade in a violent radius to flick off the blood and excess entrail from its blade; as he sheaths _Yamato_ gracefully into its scabbard, a blue aura shrouds his full form to transform him back to his human form.

From behind them, back in the Halfield's house, Marcelin finds that the whole carnage has stopped. He climbs down from his own window and goes running to his professor. Perhaps he could talk with the both of them! _Maybe, they don't need to kill anymore…_

Vergil's expression radiates a venomous aura as he glares at the coolly Prowler before him, before settling his sights on the screen. His expression softens when he realizes it to be a video of his beloved, half-conscious and whispering his name.

She's bruised! There's dried blood on her forehead and a blossoming purplish color on her left cheek; her voice is small, cracked and it's _painful_ to hear and see Kathalina like this…

Vergil roared! "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HER?!"

The video ends and the coolly Prowler pushes several buttons before putting out the phone again in loudspeaker.

"You want her safe? She will be." Came another feminine voice, angry yet beautiful, lilting and modulated like the finest speaker of her language. Speaking of 'her language', Vergil noted that her accent is indeed non-English, perhaps even Slavic…

"You want this to be over? You want my and my children's downfall badly?!" Her voice becomes shrill with every word she spits out of her lips—

 _Wait!_ Vergil's eyes widen!

The Alpha's voice becomes higher-pitched, almost threatening to _shatter_ the phone itself from her ear-splitting voice!

Her voice!

"YOU AND YOUR TWIN WILL SUFFER FIRST BEFORE THAT SHALL HAPPEN! WE WILL END YOU AND ALL HUNTERS ALIKE, AND THROW YOUR CARCASSES INTO THE DEMON REALM AND _FREEZE_ IT OURSELVES!"

He now realizes _what_ their Alpha is!

"No…" Came a male's voice, murmuring and hurt. Marcelin stands frozen as he hears the feminine voice through the phone. "It really is her…What did you guys do?"

Unheard, perhaps because of the distance or because she ignores him, her words of rage continues.

"NO MORE PAIN AND AGONY! YOUR WAY HAS NOT RIGHTED THE WRONGS THIS WORLD HAS BEEN SUFFERING FOR AGES! I WILL KILL ALL THE EVILS AND PURIFY THIS WORLD WITH THEIR CORPSES AS FOUNDATION!"

"Then you die _after_ you have committed your goals?" Vergil goads coldly. "Will you be willing as the last blemish of evil after you have eradicated _all_ evils? Willing to sacrifice yourself as the last remainder of evil? Hypocrite!"

A hysterical laughter shoots out of the loudspeakers of the phone, its sound volume straining to keep the sound level to a normal decibel. "Oh, Mr. Sparda. You believe me to be afraid to do such?"

"You won't." Vergil snaps with a sneer. His coolly Prowler's casual smile is gradually dwindling. "Not when my brother and I will stop you."

The coolly Prowler snarls at him, finally revealing pointed teeth. Unfazed, yet levels disturbed, Marcelin stands just a few feet behind his professor, his mouth open as it confirms the identity of the Alpha.

His Alpha gives him the final words before hanging up. "We shall see." And just like that, the wind picked up speed again, with a hail of snow cruelly intent on burying anyone outside, or who dared to fight more Prowlers!

Vergil's lips curl into a wide smile, but his eyes gleamed darkly. "Yes, we shall..."

As soon as he finished his sentence, the coolly Prowler lets out an enraged, high-pitched howl, and not one second was wasted when _more than a dozen Prowlers suddenly_ leaped from the shadows!

Before Marcelin could comprehend what he's seeing, Vergil had taken him away and is whisked into a plume of blue mist, before realizing he had _reappeared_ with his professor—on a rooftop of a restaurant called Little Italy, _ten blocks_ from his house!

"Jesus, fucking, Mary and Joseph, _how_ did this happen? Whaaaat—?"

"I cannot teleport a big distance…" Vergil explains, only slightly stressed with the fact that he's just brought his student along for this ride! "I'm sorry, Marcelin. But with this one, I have a sense that you'll help us in stopping eternal winter."

Marcelin shakes his head profusely, eyes wide. "That doesn't matter now…Her name! It's Anfisa, we call her Ann! She's a waitress like I told you and I met her back before Christmas vacation!"

"She may also be the missing creature horrifically locked up and tortured by an illegal market/trafficking ring." Vergil did not miss a beat when he revealed the truth. Marcelin's mouth slacks open further.

Behind them, _numerous_ Prowlers are leaping from blocks of rooftops, their skin almost invisible except for the snow that peppered their bodies!

"Come!"

With another plume of blue smoke, Marcelin disappears with his professor, with the Prowlers right behind.

* * *

"Here you go, darling." The old store clerk hands him the five biggest tumblers of strawberry ice cream, emblazoned on their lids are the discount promises of certain other ice cream flavors from his favorite brand. But Dante's already satisfied with strawberry. He always is.

He pays the nice old store clerk the cash before bundling the five tumblers into his shopping bag. "Thanks a bunch! Have a safe night!"

The old store clerk beams up at him. "Oh! You too! Come again!"

With a playful wink, Dante exits the convenience store and strolls back to his bike. Despite the chilly weather, Dante's craving for his favorite ice cream is never dampened.

Speaking of dampened, the road of this freeway is filled with mushy snow, as the warm corpses of the slowly disintegrating Prowlers melt and dampen the snowy path.

If there was anything that truly completed his demon hunting session, it's strawberry ice cream. Heaps of it!

Taking the opportunity of finding no 'sign' from his brother yet, Dante manages to find a convenience store in the wooded outskirts of La Piuma, before entering one of the freeway bridges towards Fortuna City.

Dante pops open one of the big tubs of ice cream and, using the newly purchased scooper from the same convenience store, scoop himself a perfect sphere of his favorite ice cream—

"Hm?"

Before the strawberry goodness could reach his mouth, however, his eyes see _something—_

 _Oh boy…_ He grins, amused at the sight. Letting his empathic powers breeze towards Vergil, he feels his twin's cognition and smiles further in amusement. "Tsk, tsk, Verg, _bro_. You gotta calm down…"

Despite the thick woods and sloping landscape, it was unmistakable: on the other freeway lane, towards the less populated areas of La Piuma, a bright blazing vehicle thunders across the empty road, leaving large plumes of smoke!

 _Literally_ blazing, the vehicle is brightly lit of blue flames, charging down unflinchingly, its roaring engine demonic in Dante's ears; even for a human spectator, they would be horrified—or they would whip out their cameras or phones to capture the hellion of a car Vergil's driving right now!

"That's the signal." Dante says in his usual blasé tone, although inside, he felt his heart—and stomach—deflate for having to delay procrastination. "Oh, Vergil, the things I do for you…"

Stuffing his small grocery of ice cream in the bag and secured them in the compartment in his motorbike, he manages to smirk to himself, knowing that he'll be enjoying them later. He swings his leg over the seat and revs it alive, grinning devilishly at the chaos he and his twin are about to make—

"Let's make some new arrangements!" He growled in delight as a powerful red aura surrounds him and his bike, quickly melting the gray-brown sludge of snow and blood from the ground.

In a matter of seconds, his red and customized Royal Enfield Bullet transforms! The bike's exterior _blurs_ into a large, pounding 'organic' material of some sort, its beating sound much like a heart, pulsating with energy and vigor; its metallic parts convulse and begin to sport horns, veins and flames, creating an infernal heatwave that threaten to vaporize winter!

Satisfied with the transmogrification, Dante revs the handle and the normal growl of a motorbike engine is replaced with a demonic roar, bellowing a gust of wind and a short tremor that rattles the ground and trees, the lights inside the convenience store blinking for a second!

"I am _SO_ not gonna be late for this party!"

With another demonic roar from the pulsing engine, Dante speeds down the freeway, leaving behind an emblazoned streak of fire on the road!

Across from where Dante speeds as a streak of red lightning, Vergil's transmogrified Firearrow coupe races towards the auto-toll separating the outskirts of La Piuma from one of the long bridges toward Fortuna City.

The bridges, despite looking like the most postmodern pastiche of Renaissance-Revival and Sci-Fi architectural design the world has been graced to have, is actually ancient—and very much blessed with a protective spell that can only be activated by Fortuna City's ancient ruler. The ancient runes and some Latin script that runs along the original structure of the bridge has been, thankfully, preserved well and are now only a cultural product for tourism and conspiracy theories.

For him and his twin, however, the runes are crucial.

Gritting his teeth and flexing the muscles on his jawline, Vergil casts a glance towards his brother. His hellion-bike rides through the other freeway lane, going further northeast towards the other bridge; following in hot pursuit behind his twin appear to be an abnormally large storm cloud, much like the one behind Vergil's.

Beside him, his student looks in awe. "They're…they're really after the two of you…"

Vergil hums as an answer and remains focused on his driving. Because of their Cloaking, the few other human civilians driving by are not aware of two speed demons going at speeds current super cars want to achieve; they are, however, very much aware and terrified of the bizarre storm that seems to slide rapidly across the night sky.

The dark lumps of clouds rumbled threateningly, with veins of multicolored lightning stretching across their rapidly-changing shape. They brought with them erratic winds and hails, in their attempt to pepper the two vehicles to its destruction, or elicit an accident. It proved useless as each hail stone actually either caught fire and immediately disintegrated, or zapped away by an unusual electrical current coursing around the vehicle!

This did not apply to the civilians, however. Thankfully, there were less of them driving by at this hour and season, although it is still proving hazardous for those who are.

With their Cloaking, both Vergil and Dante can only affect their vehicles temporarily: by shutting their engines down as they pass each by and, with a temporary enchantment, render their vehicles invulnerable while the hail-and-snowstorm unleashes itself on Fortuna City.

"Hold on." Vergil warns his student as he further accelerates the coupe.

Just as he had said the warning, the vehicle meets a few minor bumps, while the sound and impact of the snow hitting the flaming windshield threatens to shatter the glass or blow the car away. Marcelin can feel the increasing velocity of the storm outside the hellion car as the passenger's window rattles from the aggressive wind and snow. He wonders if he'll freeze into a human icicle once he steps outside…

 _I wonder if…if Anfisa will—_

"How are we going to stop them?!" Marcelin couldn't stop his panic as he glances at his professor. "How am _I_ going to help you with this?!"

No answer.

Vergil's eyes remain focused on the road, his jaw set and his expression severe. The supernaturally-fiery windshield abates the lashing of the snow that threatens to blind any normal driver, revealing that they are about to go through the tollgate of the bridge—

 _CRASH!_

—they went _through_ the bars of the tollgate!

"Oh God!"

Marcelin jumps in his seat even though he had seen it coming in the nanosecond his mind had comprehended that one of the auto-toll is in front of them; now he flinches at the gritty sound of metal rolling and churning across the hood of the fiery demonic car and over its roof!

He hears the clanging of them further behind and even whips at the back window to watch the bars and parts of the auto-toll machine roll helplessly on the snowy ground.

As the metallic parts of the tollgate roll away behind them, the churning dark cloud of the snowstorm leers at them, showing sharp teeth and glowing eyes! The rumble of their thunder echoes dissonantly with their bloodcurdling shrieks and murderous roars.

Marcelin could feel how his heart could burst out of his chest.

"You will." came Vergil's voice. Marcelin looks at him again with this astounded expression. He sounded bizarrely calm, but from the severity and determination found on his expression, he knew that his professor is asking something greater from him. "I know you won't fail."

But Marcelin can only gape at him. He finds it ridiculous and just mad that their success lies on his shoulders—

"We can save her." His professor's voice is full of conviction, his eyes focused on the approaching path towards the bridge. "And we can stop winter. And your father needn't have to keep secrets from you. Help me…"

His cool-blue eyes glances at Marcelin's dark green ones, and he sees Vergil's courage coursing through, believing that he is more than capable than what he fears.

"Do you think she'll listen to me? What if—"

"Then me and my brother will have to do the last resort," he says gravely, a somberness in his tone when he said the last words. Marcelin's heart beats as a cold feeling not caused by the abnormal storm bristles around his neck. "But I have every confidence it won't happen…"

Peering ahead, Marcelin realizes they had just entered the bridge—

—and immediately, the atmosphere shifts! The snow peppering at them lessens outside.

"We're almost at _that_ point!" Vergil warns, a slight panic in his voice as he grits his teeth. "I know I'm asking for too much at a sudden time—"

"I'll do my best!" Marcelin cries in spite of the alarm bells inside his head. "I just want this to be over! Now what am I—"

His voice is cut short when a bright sunlight shines in front of them. He looks over at Vergil, only to see him looking straight ahead; his deep-set eyes narrowed further in concentration—

—there is only the white noise, the bright, blinding light and an unnatural calmness sweeping through Marcelin…

With his foot down the accelerator, Vergil gives all his strength to the velocity of the hellion car; pushing through the Veil of the ancient bridge's Cloaking, he and Dante focus all their powers to activate the runes running along the height of the structure of the bridge!

Like the sun peeking through twilight, the shooting rays of bright light _break through_ the horde of dark clouds that would have enveloped the whole bridge! The light spreads unnaturally for more than ten miles, casting a white powerful light on the wooded outskirts of the town and city!

The rays seem to come from the rigid, lofty structure itself and from the forest down below, as beams of it radiate like a thousand spotlights, dispelling the darkness—

—until a large ball of gray _bursts_ against it; its force colliding to create a long rumbling discharge that rattles the two bridges and the sloping land that surrounds them!

The giant gray ball of force dispels, only to form into serpentine gusts of wind, that seem to coalesce with the penetrating light, creating an unnatural, swirling fog all around. With the rays of light remaining impregnable and unwavering, the dazzling light continues to pierce through the claw of the dark gray clouds and foggy winds of snow, yet it appears both forces are at an impasse.

With two of the freeway bridges surrounded by these powerful, amalgamating forces, it becomes the surrounding arena between the twins and horde of infernal winter.

* * *

The last thing he remembers was the blinding light and the unnatural stillness that coursed inside him. Both elements are still very much present, as Marcelin's eyes lift to find himself safe inside the same coupe; only now, it appears normal and the atmosphere and temperature remain… _placid._

Sitting upright, his eyes squint to find the light too bright for his sight, but not in a way that it stings him. Confused and dazed, Marcelin recalls the panic-stricken conversation he had with his professor—

—realizing he is the only occupant inside the car, he sits up and opens the passenger door to clamber out of the vehicle, to be met with a vintage red bike parked at the left of the blue coupe; and this uneasy stillness of white and silence all around him. Well, it isn't quite silent…

There is a noise rumbling all around him, faint and filtered. It sounds like it's coming _outside_ this brightened area, which doesn't make sense.

Whipping his head around to pinpoint the location of where it could be, he walks a few steps away from the car and realizes the white light surrounding him is slowly shifting. Taking one step forward, his shoe tip bumps on _something_ coagulating, like gelatin; it's actually forming a wall in front of him and the 'wall' itself seem to shift from the effect of his shoe bumping at it, with the white light gently fluctuating along with it.

Lifting his finger to poke at whatever _it_ is, his finger does feel a very soft, yet thick gaseous force in front of him; after the poke, the surface of the mystery 'gelatin wall' shifts, with it the supposed white brightness of it…

With curiosity taking over, Marcelin splays both of his palms on the surface of it and pushes onto the 'gelatin-like' surface to find another reaction of it—

—the shifting, white surface, however, separates from its bright coagulating form to reveal a most awesome and horrifying event!

Beyond the white surface is the demonic storm! The white flashes of lightning momentarily destroy the dark gray dimness of the storm clouds that has the _entire_ bridge surrounded!

Flecks of snow whip about, at the mercy of the powerful winds and serpentine tornadoes that threaten to blow apart the bridge's structure! The entire snow storm is the effect of the combined powers of the Prowlers and…well, whatever Anfisa is.

The sound that has been rumbling faintly _inside_ where he is—inside the 'gelatin wall'—are being caused by the wrathful snowy winds, so dangerously tangible, like serpents swirling viciously across the surface of the bridge and up towards the dark lumps of clouds lit by its rolling thunder and lightning!

Accompanying the infernal rumbles of the winds, thunder and lightning are the dissonant chants of the Creep themselves; their dark mouths wide with demoniacal laughter, warmongering roars and wrathful shrieks, paired with glowing eyes and naked rippling bodies, hungry and bloodthirsty!

All their eyes are trained on two tall, broad-shouldered individuals from a few meters in front of where Marcelin is being kept. They stand defiantly, even as the swirling tornadoes threaten to suck them into the vortex and then hurl them away.

A soft light appears on his professor's left side, appearing from it a long sheathed katana blade; a similar soft light also appears on his twin's back, materializing a rather large sword.

"Now _this_ is a really good pre-Valentine's Day Party, don'tcha think?!" The man with the giant sword yells flamboyantly at the creatures that want his head off. "We're planning full-on debauchery here! Hedonism, obscenities, _hell!_ I'd throw in a couple of my own kinky stuff here, if you're all down to it! Whaddaya say?! Full-on filthy stuff before the fluffy Day of Hearts arrives, yeah?!"

His professor shakes his head.

One of the Prowlers jests along. "How about beheading _you_? Or disembowelment?! It wouldn't be a feast without the two of your guts spilled all along the length of this bridge!"

With only just a nod from the flamboyant one, the twins vanish from where they stood, with only the sudden dashes of silhouettes dancing across… _everywhere!_

The Prowlers lash out at the two speedy silhouettes, also becoming blurs and dashes of snarling claws and fangs, intent to kill!

His eyes could not keep up with the inhuman speeds of the two hunters, his mouth agape in amazement. There were bright flashes of powerful guns, blaring at numerous Prowlers; the whispers of a slashing blade trying to precisely cut and pierce through important organs; and the maniacal shrieks of the creatures he may have or have not met in school, in Fortuna City or with his girlfriend…

He jumps when there is one Prowler that fell to the ground, its corpse splattering messily just inches from him. Even with the divide between them, he felt the impact of how the lifeless body collapsed to the ground. Marcelin takes a deep breath to calm himself down. He thought he had been used to it when Vergil was fighting off a horde of them outside his house earlier. _Guess not…_

The fight is unceasing in its carnage!

The quick shadow that is Vergil darts efficiently and precisely to the target that he not only can take down, but tauntingly make uses of to chain another attack. His blade is no mere flashy weapon, but an extension of his calm, deathly preciseness! Too many of the Prowlers are aggressive, too eager to dig their claws and fangs at him, or desperately use their accursed roars to dispel his chain of attacks; Vergil, however, evades them and simply waits for opportunity to effortlessly strike the opponent _once_ before falling lifeless, bloodied, into the ground!

His twin is the opposite. Because Marcelin can only see his professor in that second as he anticipates his next move, he can clearly see Dante more as he rolls, jumps and even hovers in mid-air without wings, and then links rather large, swiping attacks with his huge sword, felling multiple Prowlers at once! His loud, blazing guns are also what captivated him to observe how his twin fights, and in many ways how he steals the attention of the other Prowlers. He even has the audacity to loudmouth a few to taunt them into coming at him, only to stand in the same place and point his two guns _at every direction the Prowlers are coming at him!_

"WHOOOP!" Dante whoops in excitement as the loud velocity of his blazing guns appear like fireworks! With every hail of bullets going for every head, limb and torso of his targets, their blood spills all around him! He laughs maniacally when they all suddenly hound at him altogether, only for him to pull his large sword and made a whooping set of roundhouse strikes at all of them!

 _"NNNYYAAARRRHGHGGHG!"_

There is a sudden change in the air and even the supposed felled Prowlers suddenly stand from where they lay, to fall back and regroup in different directions; they swirl around them like a tornado itself, effectively surrounding the twins!

Back to back, the twins observe their movements patiently, watching any that broke formation. Unfortunately, a sudden gust of blinding white snow is hurled at their direction, effectively disturbing their senses! They vanish from where they both stood to avoid being still targets; much like earlier, Vergil is nothing but a quick blur of shadows across the bridge, trying to pinpoint exactly which Prowlers are making the snow storm. Dante, on the other hand gives them his own storm of bullets as he hails them with his pistols, while also trying to break their new tactical formation of evading and attacking the two of them when opportunity arises.

Because of this sudden table-turning tactic, unfortunately, no doubt his professor and his twin are also getting hurt. Twice he already saw how a hail of bullets were suddenly halted when six Prowlers converged on Dante twenty feet in the air; Marcelin actually held his breath when he saw the man falling from the attack, _headfirst to the ground!_

Quicker than a blink, Vergil was there to catch his twin and in a plume of blue smoke, they teleported almost at the height of the bridge's tip!

Still in mid-air, the twins join together, their figures creating a two-strand swirling force; his professor becomes a bright, dazzling blue light, whilst his twin becomes a blazing fiery red!

Like a vortex at top speed, the streaks of blue and red begin to form like a brighter version of the serpentine tornadoes! Their combined forces rival that of the storm's tornadoes, countering the wind force and stability of the Creep that remain immune from the storm's swirling winds! They cling desperately to the railings of the bridge, the tall structures of it, or even at the ground, but their nails scrape painfully as they succumb to the twins' combined efforts!

Marcelin himself can feel the power reverberating inside the gaseous-gelatin wall he's still being kept in; the walls wiggle from the vibrations of the dazzling force, threatening to break apart!

But as almost one of the Prowlers are almost blown completely off the bridge, a very large— _abnormally large—_ tornado comes down from the storm clouds, its dark mouth so wide it can swallow the whole bridge itself! It descends slowly, yet its ominous power is taking effect immediately.

But the two hunters remain in their tornado form, defiant in keeping the fight against the huge tornado descending upon them! As the 'mouth' of the abnormal tornado takes them inside, flashes of light appear like fireworks!

Like thundering punches against a wall, the explosive lights _break through_ the darkness of the tornado, dispersing its form as smoke and fog, coming apart from whatever force Vergil and Dante have created!

Yet, from the dispersing dark air, the twins are falling head first, almost unconscious, to the ground!

Marcelin yells his professor's name, hoping they would wake from the pain and somehow stop their fall! But inside the 'gelatin wall' his voice sounds too flat, even for a shout; no echo whatsoever is bouncing against its weird wall. No one can hear him outside!

"NO!" His yell of desperation is contained as he helplessly watches the two figures charge downward, their bodies connecting painfully against the cold ground.

Marcelin didn't know what to make of this, his body shuddering and collapsing on all fours at what he just saw! Vergil had survived the onslaught earlier, but…

He had transformed into a different being before fighting the horde outside his house. Is this different? Are they—?!

— "Man, what a work out…" the unusually cool and flippant voice of his twin brother remarks as he sits up from the cracked ground. Because of the powerful impact, they had distended the surface of the ground they fell on, forming an irregular contour of their body shapes. "But I know you wanna look extra ripped and heroic when you save your future wife, eh, bro?"

"Can it!" Vergil ferociously snaps.

"You guys are alive!" Even though he knew no one can hear him, Marcelin rejoices! Despite this, Vergil slowly sits up and subtly turns to face his student, as if to look at the horizon, although his eyes are fixed at him. His severe expression relaxes when his sight rests on his student. His right hand on his side lifts slightly and gestures for Marcelin to be patient.

He whispers to himself, "You can see and hear me…" _Where am I?_

As Marcelin expresses confusion, Vergil's gaze remains calm before he turns his face away to gaze upon the leering, taunting faces of the countless Prowlers still encircling them.

Beside his professor is his twin, equally defiant yet uncannily too relaxed about this whole thing. His twin even outstretches his arms, as if to welcome guests in his house! "Play time's over, kiddies!"

Doing a Chinese get-up, Dante is standing up and letting loose of his swagger. "Come on now, we know your mom's single and we have here her potential soulmate for _Valentine's Day_! And my brother here is single and she has _my_ brother's potential soulmate…so how about it?" With a mocking, simpering smile, he wiggles his eyebrows at them. The Prowlers are having _none_ of it! "Let's call on a trade and just let true love blossom, eh? And as bonus, I wouldn't mind spending time with all of you here…"

Marcelin couldn't help but drop his mouth open at the _audacity_ of this guy! And he wasn't the only one reacting. A lot of the female Prowlers are mocking a retching sound at the latter 'bonus' proposal.

"Go fuck yourself, you hybrid dimwit!"

"Our Alpha will _destroy_ you! We're just toying with you!"

"We'll behead you and tore off your parts, and make your dead mouth eat them!"

At those words, Vergil's head gazes downward, his brows furrowed in worry. He makes a quick glance at his brother, who sighs quite heavily. Despite Dante's stern expression, his lips quirk and the flamboyant twin flips his hair in fiery swagger. "Looks like they're itching to start this wild winter party, eh, Vergil?"

"Oh, but it would be rude," Vergil infers in a calm, smooth voice, "to suddenly start without the hostess of this party. I wouldn't want to be inconsiderate, especially towards a _Vila_."

The whole horde of the Prowlers, already in a flurry of anger, was suddenly making another round of crazed cacophonies. They disliked having their Alpha being mocked.

 _Vila_ _?_ Marcelin had looked that up before; when he was a kid, he was so curious about the supernatural things his own father would research before going out for a 'hunt'. Vilas are nymphs or fairies, with powers over winds and storms. Feminine and charming, they are, however, also very dangerous and fierce warriors, whose aid is advantageous when sought by humans.

"Oh, that's cool!" The flamboyant twin jeered. "Now, I know there's hardly any evidence, but a Vila does fit the description of having a very protective and vengeful nature, especially after the wrongs they've done to her back in November…"

The Prowlers are suddenly sounding less eager for blood and more annoyed, what with that rolling purr deep in their throats, their sharp teeth glaring through their snarls.

Vergil smirks. "And that Mitis Bloom plant you gifted my student! A very resilient, well-rounded plant that requires little water and can withstand winter…I must say, you've put a lot of yourself when you chose that to Charm it, and listen in on conversations…"

His twin scoffs, amused. "You should've given the hot librarian flowers, Verg…"

Displeased with his twin's humor, Vergil merely shakes his head.

But his twin, unfortunately, continues to prod at his love life. "Well, maybe on your date this Sunday, assuming she's still willing to go with you, and embrace you as who you _really_ are, she'll really love the flowers. You know, roses still actually bloom in winter, so you could get lucky in nabbing a bouquet full of it, assuming _again_ they're still in stock because, you know, Valentine's Day and what not—"

"SILENCE!"

A ball of wind and snow bursts between the twins and the Creep of Prowlers, revealing a young willowy woman, with long dark hair, pale skin and hazel eyes. Her outraged expression rightfully reflects the sudden velocity of the storm around them.

Marcelin's heart pounds heavily against his chest and calls out her name, despite how muffled his voice is inside the white 'gelatin wall'.

"Anfisa! Ann, please!"

He can see that she isn't even responding to his words, realizing that he's invisible and non-existent unless the Protective Spell is broken! So how the hell is he supposed to do this?

 _"We can save her. And we can stop winter. And your father needn't have to keep secrets from you. Help me…"_

Vergil's hopeful words reverberate again in his mind. Marcelin is determined to help, but he's being held up by this protective wall. How? _How am I going to help them?_

The look on the Vila's face says it all: her rage and anguish, and her self-righteousness is all there from her. She cannot afford to lose. "Will these _annoying_ mouths ever be silent?!"

Despite the continuous onslaught of the wind slamming against their bodies, Dante and Vergil glanced at each other and, with a huff, straightened their clothes and sleeves, and brushed back his hair. Dante even cocks an eyebrow at her. "Well, no! This whole pillow talk was impromptu, but it's part of a plan."

"I'm afraid you'll have to get used to him." Vergil mockingly apologizes. "Once he's engaged with something, he'll never abate, until it's done."

"And so do I!" Anfisa declares. "I will see this through to the end and be victorious!"

"Why do you think this is the only way?" Vergil inquires with a firm voice. "If you blame us for failing to save you and the young Prowlers, then do so! But do not involve innocent lives with your blind hatred! We will gladly aid you and take you—"

"NO! No, no, no, no, no, no!" She repeats the words like a chant, crazed and painful. "Their blood is in your hands! You killed the innocent, just as much as _they_ had no remorse in taunting our bodies with vile experiments!"

It was suddenly Dante who speaks up. "I had to! Have you _seen_ how they are?! They can't live in the next few hours! Even with professional help…there was no way…"

"You have betrayed them, Dante!" Anfisa's shrilly voice of rage is demonic, yet the anguish is apparent. "You! YOU! Why didn't you help _us_ —"

And just like that, Anfisa snaps! She kneels on the ground and starts pulling at her long hair, all the while screaming her head off and the winds around them becoming erratic.

Dante's discomfort is evident, but Vergil appears distant as he can only sympathize with Anfisa. "She's having a flashback…"

Dante makes a very displeased sound. "No shit. But I'm done watching!" He makes a step forward, but Vergil's arm shoots in front of him. Just as he did this, the Prowlers were suddenly alert again, snapping their jaws at them threateningly.

"Not yet." Vergil murmurs and Dante obliges impatiently. "I know we need to right what we did wrong last time. But we have to save her, too."

"I know, but the storm's picking up. We'll be trapping a lot of people in the snow if we don't hurry."

Vergil knew his twin is right. _There's no other choice._ With all his fury, Vergil gets the Vila's attention by yelling at her. _"VILA! BE QUIET!"_

Anfisa snaps her glowing eyes at Vergil and suddenly a very diabolical and long shriek of rage bellows out of her mouth! Joining her in the demonic melody were the frenzied and maddeningly wrathful sounds of the Prowlers, ready for war!

"Clever of you two," Anfisa's poisonously sweet voice said, "to lure us here in the bridges! I knew of how ancient this structure is, yet the power it has is still powerful. Of course, the whispers are true that the two of you are the descendants of the ancient ruler here! Only the two of you can invoke its full powers!"

"Correct." Vergil summons his katana blade, but keeps it tied to his waist. His expression darkens further. "Now, don't you think you should let go of Kathalina?"

"Ha!" She huffs with a prideful tone. "Do you think she would want someone like you? And after what I've told her, what kind of _creature_ would want to think he deserves a good person like Kathalina?"

"A creature who sympathizes with a fellow," Vergil quietly proclaims as he unsheathes the blade challengingly. The Prowlers howled as their eyes fix on him. "A fellow who thinks _she_ deserves a _good person_ of her own…"

Anfisa's pale skin becomes paler, her eyes wider. "How dare you bait Marcelin against me?"

Vergil merely curls his lips as Dante pulls his guns and twirls them mockingly at their enemies.

In a fit of rage, Anfisa unleashes a pair of smaller tornadoes, whirling violently and powerfully at their way!

At their speed, the twins merely evade these tornadoes, but Anfisa had anticipated this! She goes for the flamboyant twin first! And despite her small height, her hand extends towards him, going for his stomach! Dante parries her bare-handed attack, but realizes this to be dangerous! Her fingertips are ablaze with white light, searing through his clothes and skin!

He is still successful in countering her attacks and pushes her off as Vergil swipes his scabbard instead! It connects across her head, sending the Prowlers into a frenzied frustration!

From the hit, Anfisa recovers before Dante could deliver a low-swirling kick by hopping twenty feet off the air! In Dante's lowered stance, Vergil uses him as a leg-up to powerfully launch himself! Knowing they mean to render her vulnerable instead of outright kill her, Anfisa immediately unravels a ball of energy between her hands before Vergil's attack could contact her again!

Too late, his attack unleashes the ball of energy, making an explosion and sending both Anfisa and Vergil to two opposite ways! Not as hurt, Anfisa's eyes glow and her lips smile as she floats above them, chanting to her Prowlers.

The Prowlers laugh and chant with her, slowly crawling from their spots across the bridge. The snow becomes a powerful, abnormal torrent of white flakes as lightning flashes too quickly than usual. Small tornadoes are swirling across the bridge's road, leaving a cracked path after their volatile wake!

"Toying with you is making me happy!" Anfisa snarls wickedly, her voice a booming terror of a sound. Without warning, giant shards of icy stalagmites shot out of the road to impale the twins; quickly, the two evade them gracefully even as the stalagmites form to chase them first, but suddenly forming unpredictably in different directions!

Swiping their swords at these stalagmites, Dante shoots at her to stop, but ball of lights appear to take the bullets for her, and soon, a sharp isosceles of stalagmite impales him in the back! He jumps off it quickly as his blood is left to cake the cold impaling weapon! In a plume of red smoke, he teleports to a relatively clearer area of the road and, summoning a bit of his strength, he launches from the ground and towards the air, his large sword Rebellion pointing at her direction! With Vergil clearing the road of all its icy stalagmites, he _sweeps_ a few of the shards and, with graceful arcs, flicks them at Anfisa!

Of course, some of her Prowlers respond by stopping those countered shards, while others dove for Dante's physical launching attack! But even as a self-made missile, Dante twirls in mid-air and hails them bullets in all directions as he careens towards Anfisa—!

"Such a fool…"

 _FUCK I WAS CLOSE—!_

The very sharp tip of Rebellion is _merely_ touched by Anfisa's very left hand! Her right hand forms a small tornado to blast him off her area! And just like that, Dante careens painfully back to the bridge, his body making a skidding impact across the road!

Anfisa laughs shrilly, thoroughly enjoying their attempts to stop her. "Oh how fun! I have never fought anyone in a _long_ while! But I know after this, I won't need to!"

"Hey, bro," Dante glances at his twin, a bit worried. "Are you sure that we should wait? Coz we're looking screwed, unless we actually take her seriously."

Looking at the apocalyptic scenario in front of them, Vergil purses his lips before he speaks with conviction. "Be patient. And also, we have to buy them time…"

With those words, Dante whines. "Oh man. I thought for sure when she showed up…"

But he doesn't finish the sentence, as the twins transform into their Demon Forms and flew towards the storm!

Marcelin can only watch the whole thing helplessly, but he could no longer ignore the sudden appearance of the black wall coagulating alongside this white wall.

And with this appearance, Marcelin can make out the voice of a woman.

"Hello?"

"Miss Lombardo?"

* * *

The last thing she remembers was the inhuman scream of a female creature and then…she became unconscious. Despite this, her mind is subconsciously following this small warm blue light in front of her, always at the forefront of her sight…

…she knows where this blue light is from and why it's here, but she can't seem to _grasp_ the entirety of it…

And now, lying in the pitch black darkness, she sits up and winces from a string of bruises and pain across her body. She remembers slowly the events backwards: Anfisa's revelation, her Prowlers, how she invited her inside her own home and how she knew…she _knew_ about her life, Vergil's profile and that she even has a Valentine's date! Marcelin Halfield! That young woman—that creature hell-bent on vengeance—had just baby-sat her neighbors' young son!

In a panic, Kathalina stands and finds her house slippers are missing! She is still in her night wear and she appears to not have been—well, _touched._ Except, of course, that time Anfisa and her Prowlers had rendered her unconscious to become bait. _But what use am I as bait if I'm…just here?_

Kathalina's head whirls at the possibilities of how she was to be bait and what happens if they succeed. Why did Anfisa take her like this? She would've just slipped inside her apartment and took her quietly…but she didn't.

Her heart becomes heavy. _I can't think of that right now. Anfisa…she's still a victim and clearly, she must've made a mistake._ She remembers the enchanted balloon…how Anfisa was so pleasant and shy…her anger and pain when she recalled her story to her…

A bit more determined, she walks. _Where am I?_

Looking around, Kathalina realizes it…odd. She is somewhere pitch black, yet somehow she can see her own hands, her clothes, her loose hair and her bare feet! Everywhere she looks is the same pitch blackness, like a whole room painted black, while the center has the only source of illumination. The whole 'place's' atmosphere and temperature remain… _placid._ But she cannot ignore them…these subdued sounds…

They feel far away, tiny echoes of sound. She tries to pinpoint where exactly it is coming from, but realizes that each sound, as she listens to each, is individual, specific, and bouncing around this pitch black room. She cannot follow every single one of them as this place has no corner, appearing eternal.

But…

She strains to hear one _very_ distinct sound. It sounds like knocking against a flexible piece of mass, not unlike the thick, bouncing sound of a ball as its force collides against a wall. And there is another, a human voice!

"NO!"

It echoes clearly, but gradually becomes as subdued as the rest of these sounds.

Listening closely, she feels the ground shake a little as if something had hit the ground! She hears muffled laughter…and then an exchange of words…

"You guys are alive!"

Kathalina can tell it sounds male. And from being able to discern it, she must be close to him. Can she call out to 'him'? "H-hello?"

She sounded weak and hoarse, but also, her own voice sounded too flat, unlike the sounds of these strange things happening out of her reach.

She walks closer, being able to discern another conversation—

—and then Anfisa's! "…IL…EN…CE!"

"Ann!" Again, her voice is so flat, despite the raised volume! She was beginning to panic and as more noises escalated again, she was beginning to run!

"Ah!" Something halts her from going further! It isn't solid, more gaseous in feel, as she stretches her hands to know more of this substance that's stopping her! Her palms press against this gaseous… _wall…_ of sorts and…feels and _sounds_ bouncy!

And the pitch blackness slowly subsides, like smoke, and an image appears! She sees a gray road, a few pairs of feet dancing around, and three figures—!

"Hello?! Anyone?!"

Swiping her hands across this strange, coagulating 'wall', the black smoke gives way to a most horrendous and awesome sight!

Thousands upon thousands of nude humanoid creatures—Prowlers—leering at the three figures as they battle, their claws and powerful legs clinging onto the recognizable architecture of Fortuna's entry bridge!

Anfisa, in the same house dress, her long dark hair whipping about her as she jumps _twenty feet or so up in the air!_ And two men, their long, giant, glimmering swords chasing after her!

And one of whom held a Japanese blade, smoothly and quickly drawn and sheathed as he assists his twin—!

"Vergil!"

She pounds against this strange wall, this barrier, frustrated of being obstructed and wanting to stop this nightmare! "Please don't harm Ann! Please—!"

She catches her breath when she hears the same male voice from _somewhere…_ It is not as subdued as before, but accompanied by his voice was a small fleck of blue light. It looks like a firefly, zipping slowly around her, taking her attention…

"This blue light…"

The enchanted balloon's last magic…

"Please, there's someone here, I can hear his voice. I can't be alone." Kathalina talks to it urgently, letting go of all the normal pretenses so she can get out of here with the one who's likely as trapped as her.

And just like that, the blue light zips forward, _forward_ against the pitch blackness, and even to where she had pressed her palms to realize a barrier, that she's trapped, as Kathalina runs after the light! And it had not been very long at all.

The pitch blackness slowly dissipates, like a black paper being burned on a flame, to give way for its opposite: a blinding white light!

And there, at the center of this uncanny white 'place' stood two vehicles, a large and very red motorcycle and powdery-blue vintage car, and a young man, pressed against this place's own strange wall, as he watches what could be the battle 'outside' of these barriers!

The young man whirls his head to her, afraid.

She calls to him first. "Hello?"

Elated to see her, Marcelin Halfield goes to her with outstretched arms. "Miss Lombardo!"

In tears, she goes to hug this poor young man, encircling her arms around his waist. He is shaking in joy and adrenaline, his string of words coming out of him in thirty miles per hour!

 _"Oh my god, you can't believe the shit I saw, everything about Mr. Sparda and his brother are out of this world, like how the hell is this a secret, but god damn, I'm not that smart, I didn't know my girlfriend is a demon or something, she controls the weather and a bunch of these creatures and they want to kill them because she blames them for a crime, that I don't really understand but I don't want her in pain and I guess the two of them are trying to win her over, but I'm supposed to do that! My god, Ms. Lombardo, I'm so sorry, I revealed a lot of things about us and I don't know what's gonna happen to us if we fail because I came here to—!"_

"Okay, okay, breathe!" She instructs the teenager as they both take deep inhalations of air and exhales them long and hard. "And by the way, I can believe the shit you're seeing, because I experienced them myself a few hours ago."

"Whoa…" Marcelin says. "Okay, back to the plan, we're supposed to help them to stop Anfisa, but I don't think we can do that if we're still stuck here."

"Hmm." She looks around her and sees from behind her the pitch blackness of where she had been, and here with Marcelin, halfway to his place of white. "Well, I managed to somehow 'bridge' these places with this little guy…"

As she lifts her hand up, the blue speck of light comes out, zipping like a firefly. Leaning closer, Marcelin is entranced and tries to touch it. "It's…actually a bit warm."

Sighing, Kathalina prays Anfisa doesn't find out. "Look, I was captured by Ann and I don't think she'd like it if she realized her own magic in keeping me has somehow broken. So we…have to figure out how to get her to listen, without getting…harmed."

From the way he looks at her, Marcelin didn't like the assumption that Anfisa would go that far. He clenches his fists. "Yeah. Now or never."

They nod at each other, but are disturbed at how the subdued sounds of mayhem and carnage are becoming louder and impactful.

Looking at this blue light in her hands, Kathalina pleads. "We don't know how to get to her…is there a way? Can you help us….get to her? We need to talk to her…If we don't, the devastation she'll cause…I can't even say it! Please…"

Cupping underneath her hands, Marcelin leans close to the blue light. "Please! She's going to kill everyone if I don't even say what I want to say to her, that I—I will always be there for her! And her pain doesn't have to be the thing that makes her lonely and afraid! I can be there for her! She knows that, does she? She knows that what she's done is wrong, terrifying and…she just can't let these creatures do this to our world! She can become better and feel better! She can learn that it will be safe after! She deserves peace…I…I just don't _want all of this to fall apart!"_

His tearful and very anguished voice reverberates deeply inside her heart and suddenly, Kathalina is reminded of her own dilemma about Vergil's nature. She bites her lips painfully, wrestling with all these feelings of uncertainty, fear and wanting, _wanting_ to have all the good things come rushing in, but also the cynicism of just anticipating the maw of hell itself coming for them all!

 _"…no matter what happens…I did have feelings for you…and whatever it is that you have to hide from anyone, you don't have to be afraid of telling me…especially me…if I weigh you down…at least, I want you to know…you're free no matter what, Vergil…"_

Her own words echo inside her memories as she sees the visage of him becoming sick for sustaining the spell, regretful and pleading; and his completely immaculate one, with his curt smile and twinkling eyes and passionate agenda inside their school campus; she remembers the young woman in the boarding house, at the far corner of the building, inside her shoebox apartment room, shy and humble, helpful towards her neighbors, kind to the little boy named Josh…

Marcelin continues to sob and pleading, now referring to the blue light as Anfisa. "Please, Ann! You know that this has to stop! You can't become like them! You know that, right?!"

"Ann!" Kathalina pleads as well, her own tears welling up. "Listen! Listen to us! To Marcelin!"

They really understood that they are just desperately pleading to a magical object in front of them, hovering placidly on top of their hands, not knowing if this is even right.

But the frustration of wanting to help and to break away from being vulnerable had been too much already, and they are having none of it.

The little blue light simply glowed, very still…while the two 'places'—the black and white rooms—trembled and coalesce with each other violently without their knowing.

* * *

"AGAIN!" Vergil yells as he and Dante prepare to transform again into their Demon Forms, red and blue colors forming from their figures, radiating with dark, electric energy.

The horde of Prowlers is at them again, but no matter what, they do not stay dead this time! The tornadoes that she keeps hurling at them and at the bridge is creating a violent earthquake that is undeniable for their partners and bureaucrats to cover from the public! The powerful hail of snow peppers them in unpredictable and insurmountable amounts, to bury them alive or to hinder their movements! Lightning more than twice had hit them, coming at them like predators disabling prey!

But they attack, they distract Anfisa and the enchantment of the bridge ensures the supernatural storm is trapped _here_ , at this location only!

 _But for how long?_

Vergil didn't want to answer that, refuses to! Once again, with their combined strength and transformations, they roar in defiance against this monstrous storm and _charges onward_ in the form of their red and blue storm!

Blazing and electrifying, their bodies launch upwards in a speed that could theoretically break through a tornado! But they only need to break through a dozen tornadoes at once!

Anfisa summons the elegant violence of her tornadoes with a twirl of her fingers, but breaks her almost lulled state when the aftershock of the combined powers of the twins stops her mid-enchantment! She cocks her eyebrow at how powerful they have continuously become, but she lets this be.

They will tire themselves out eventually and she will soon break the foundations of this accursed bridge herself soon enough.

The blue and red blaze of power penetrates through all her tornadoes and horde of Prowlers, as they follow the twins in their battle-hungry state! And as they come for her, she merely summons another ball of energy in her fingertips and fires it at them!

The stalemate of the two opposing forces creates another ball of explosion, knocking Anfisa from her trance state and un-forming the blazing trail that the demon twins have created for the third time.

Unfurling their wings, Dante snarls in both bloodlust and anger! They cannot afford to be light on her anymore! The bridge would collapse even if the spell is sustaining the whole storm in!

"I know what you're thinking, Dante!" Vergil interrupts his venomous thoughts. "Yes, it's our last resort, but we need to hold out for the first plan—!"

"The whole bridge will!" Dante argues. "Sorry, bro, but I am not gonna lose to a kid with weather powers! I wanna have a smashing good time this Valentine's and this shitstorm ain't ruining those chances!"

Anfisa laughs at the triviality of that flamboyant twin! "Valentine's? You? Who would want such a stinking wretch such as you—?"

 _"Ann! Listen to us! To Marcelin!"_

Dante's ears weren't wrong! And so were his eyes!

Like thin scraps of paper being burned by a flame, the very visage of the Fortuna bridge melts away and is replaced by this psychedelic-looking place of merely black and white! Violently, like a painter swirling the colors, the two colors form grayish hazes across their environment, replacing even the lightning and thundering storm and tornadoes!

Vergil gasps and flies to another direction, zipping quickly to two shadowy figures flickering into this new reality!

"It's working! Marcelin! Kathalina!"

A distant voice but unmistakable, she calls out to him! "Vergil! Can you hear us?!"

"Yes! Kathalina you've done it—!" He was unable to finish his sentence or even get to the figures as more than a dozen claws dig into his flesh, their sharp teeth biting his face, chest, feet, everywhere, as the horde have formed behind him into a very messy mass of a Prowler-made 'structure'! Their sharp claws, teeth and strong muscles hold him back as he tries to escape, writhing in resistance as his blood spills! He cannot move, except shake his whole body as much as he can! He summons his power to make a very powerful vibration that can potentially let them loose, but a fang sinks too deep into his head and Vergil roars in agony!

 _"AAAAAAAARRRRRGGHHH!"_

Desperate, he shakes, writhes and pulls at his arms to no avail! His body radiates dark electrifying power and it slowly gets a few of them off his demon form! But he realizes more are replaced immediately! He even summons his Phantom Blades, even if it meant that it could pierce through his own flesh! But they are unrelenting, even as he bleeds from his own attacks, spurred on by their blind loyalty for their Alpha!

 _"No! Kathalina!"_

He feels claws digging to the very top-half of his face, his eyes bleeding, his head being pulled back!

He can hear Dante struggle as well, but he can't discern exactly what is happening to him! "Vergil! Go!"

He feels a few of them slackening their grip on him and he was able to free his arms to retaliate! He pulls those clawed hands off his face and, out of his own wrath, bites one of their arms off! The Prowler lets him go with an agonizing scream, blood streaming out of his flesh like a fountain! He unfurls his wings and summons more of his Blades, uncaring if he had accidentally made _seppuku_ onto himself!

 _I need to get close…to concentrate!_

"Stop it!" Anfisa screams, shrilly and terrified. "It's no use! IT'S NO USE!"

"You must…let me through!" He calls out to her as she approaches the two figures.

"No! Stop it Marcelin!" Anfisa cries and shrieks! Vergil realizes she is preoccupied with finally hearing the two of them and from pulling her own dark hair.

 _"Anfisa! Please, I want to see you! I want to see you well and with my dad! With my college friends!"_

 _"The boarding house would be worried sick if they find out you're not there! You know how the landlady is! You know how Josh is!"_

 _"I don't care who or what you are! The kind of change you deserve is more than earned! I can help you find more of it! I can be there for you to fight your inner demons! I know you don't want this!"_

Determined, Vergil finally frees himself as more of his dark blood spills to the ground! Hovering weakly, he goes to them, lifting his hand to show his palm, his eyes zoned into the little blue light in their hands! From his palm came more of these little flecks of blue light, dancing towards the shadowy figures!

But Vergil howls in pain as Anfisa digs her left hand _inside_ the left side of his midsection! The pain has him scream in agony and his demon form dissipates, blood pouring out of him in heaps!

"CEASE AT ONCE!" Anfisa threatens him as she twists her hand deeper inside his body!

The howls and roars of the Prowlers become louder as a lot of them are doing their futile best to subdue and kill Dante, who is bloody and trudging forward in his human-form!

"Bro…Vergil…"

"Dante…"

Without a beat, Dante gives him a thumb's up—even though his arm is being clawed and chewed by the Prowlers—and grins, then spreads his hand to show his palm!

"NOOOOO!" Anfisa screams and goes for Dante, but Vergil holds her left hand to his side to trap her!

"Do not interfere!" Vergil commands without any evidence of losing his breath or his very life at all, concentrating on his efforts to continue his spell.

The small red lights from Dante's palm coalesce with the blue ones, and soon, the whole place completely shifts to favor their plan!

 _"Anfisa! Ann, I love you!"_

 _"Ann, come back to us! I know it hurts! I know what it was like being hurt with hopelessness! I know you're angry and I would be, too, in your place! I didn't come from a very happy family, but in my life so far, I had to work hard to discover that my peace isn't coming from hating what happened to me or to the person who had hurt me long ago! I've…I've been working on it and you can, too! You can find peace and be happy, you can enact justice with people who will thrive in knowing kindness, in changing, in hope! You can thrive much better than whatever it is you're planning! Please! We beg you!"_

 _"Whoa, Ms. Lombardo! I didn't know—!"_

 _"KEEP TALKING TO HER! YOU HEARD THEM! YOU WANT TO MEET AN ONSLAUGHT OF PROWLERS?!"_

 _"Anfisa, George, Estevan! And my other friends who could possibly be Prowlers! I don't judge you! I want to start over! I—I don't want anymore of these bad things! I'm crying, okay?!"_

A groaning, pained sound gurgles from Anfisa's mouth, refusing to listen to them, digging her hand further inside Vergil's torso. Her heart beats, her anger rises but her tears are making it difficult to see and crying is inescapable. _No…I have to do this…How else are we to rid the world of evil? How else can I avenge those who've been tormented and killed?_

"You can hear them, yes?" Vergil soothes to Anfisa, who looks up to him with incredulous, tear-filled eyes. Looking at this hybrid man, she sees his own eyes mist. She knew of his affections towards Kathalina but now she senses his deeper admiration for her. "The spell we're doing…it's just to calm the storm. We're actually reverting it back to its dormant state, otherwise…"

"What? You—you were supposed to destroy me! You and your twin…you devote yourselves in killing those who aren't human!"

Vergil shakes his head, a serene smile on his bloodied face. "I was always hoping it didn't have to come to annihilation. I get angry, of course, but I follow through every possibility. I wouldn't be a good college teacher if I didn't do that."

The tears that well up on Anfisa's eyes sting her further, and so she closes them. She bawls and falls to her knees, her left hand coming loose from his midsection.

"I'm sorry." Vergil whispers as a rainbow of colors enlighten the once black and white weirdness it had fathomed. He places his own hand on the back of her head to comfort her. "If you still see us a monster, then I can understand that. But know we are the kind of monsters who are capable of amending the wrongs we've done. Besides, the Gigantipede is fine."

"What?" She looks up to him, then glances at Dante.

"It's true." Dante says cheerfully. "You saw me in that… _lab_ of theirs, right? Well, those in the containers were saved. You can thank the Rights organization about it when they come cleaning this mess later."

Her hands shake as she looks at them: bloody and dirtied, streaked with her tears! "I—I should've…"

"Now, you will." Vergil reassures her. The red and blue flecks of light sparkle in a moment until a dissipating process come on the shadowy figures of both Kathalina and Marcelin. This continues from the twins' exposed palms towards their flickering shadowy visages, until a low humming vibration is accompanied by the revelation of the two humans. The ancient spell releases them all and the hazy multi-colored phenomenon gradually disappears. The whole area is silent, save for the wintery breeze.

Vergil glances down at Anfisa and smiles warmly at her. "We can change. It starts here."

* * *

"Ann!" Marcelin can see the outlines of a thousand figures all at once! And the actual bridge itself materializes before their very eyes! "Ann! Ann! Ann!"

He was running towards her and he didn't care that there was blood, dirt and pieces of debris everywhere! Anfisa is fine and alive! The storm is gone! They've done it!

"ANN!" He comes to a screeching halt in front of Anfisa, his arms immediately encircled around her shoulders as he cries in joy! "Don't ever! EVER! Ever do that again…"

Speechless and tired, Anfisa lets Marcelin bawl his eyes onto her shoulder. And for whatever strange reason, she is at peace. And she is with this wonderful young human, who loves her so innocently and deeply.

Her Prowlers are at an uneasy peace, not quite sure what to do with themselves. A few of them crawl towards her and Marcelin, anxious to approach.

"Come, my children." She whispers to them and, surely, more than a few follow. "We will…we will need to answer to our crimes."

"And I'll be there." Marcelin whispers and Anfisa looks at this adorable man in the eyes, as if after long years of being apart.

She smiles. "Thank you."

With a nudge of his elbow, Dante follows his twin out of the comfort circle the Prowlers and the couple have made for themselves. But as soon as they are clear, Vergil feels his twin nudge him back.

"I _know."_ Vergil hisses at his twin as Dante walks on ahead to Kathalina.

She watched in relief and weariness as Marcelin runs to Anfisa, and saw that the Prowlers themselves look and feel as peaceful as their leader. They have whispered sweetly to one another and she felt a rush of sadness that these two people are so quick to heal…

The words she said to Anfisa, about her own hardships and personal issues, feels like a lie.

 _It is a lie!_ Kathalina admonishes herself. _Do you really believe you're a better person after leaving your abrasive mother to rot in an elder home? Do you think you're better now, what with your flaws? Are you really trying? Are you even strong enough to? You couldn't even dare yourself to approach Mr. Sparda for over a year! You're still pathetic!_

She stares down at her own dirtied bare feet and glances up again to see the twins in their glory…well, after-battle glory.

As usual, Vergil is respectful and ensures the right distance, especially as he is more than just disheveled. He, along with his twin, and likely the rest of them anyway, smell like putrid, raw and metallic things, odorous that it stings her nose when Dante came closer to her, who is his usual oppositeness from his twin.

He flashes a very handsome, very winning smile to her that should melt the hearts of his admirers…but Kathalina is simply beffudled. How could he have the energy to smile like _this?_

"Oh, Ms. Lombardo, good morning…well, it's not really a 'good' morning, after what just happened, but it could've been worse…" Dante's grin remains even as he trails off to a cynical note. He brandishes his hand for her to take and Kathalina is perplexed. "Since the whole thing, I would be glad to take you back to your place. A lady like you certainly needs a lift after saving our asses back there."

She blushes and looks behind her to see Vergil, but he is suddenly preoccupied rummaging through their two vehicles. Realizing she is left to handle this, Kathalina decides to face Dante head on. "Well…you're welcome, but I'm also grateful. Maybe if you weren't demon hunters, it could've been much worse. Anfisa may have been in bigger trouble. I'm not well-versed with Prowlers, but from the news, it's said that they would've fought back if it was necessary. Oh, and for the offer to take me back, thank you."

She looks down at the crumbled part of the road and knew that, from how she remembered it, her apartment room had been trashed when Anfisa came to abduct her.

"I…hoped the neighbors aren't worried since they would've likely heard some weird stuff at my apartment. I—Oh!" She felt a soft and warm fabric enveloping her and realized, as she looks behind her, Vergil had come back with a rather large, red winter coat for her to bundle up in.

Dante's eyes widen! "Hey! That's mine—!"

Vergil shoots him a dirty glare, to which Dante immediately falls into the usual, too-laid-back grin. "You can definitely have it, Ms. Lombardo!"

Kathalina couldn't help but giggle, realizing that she had just witnessed a more personal side with the two…especially from Vergil. It seems an opportunity is not wasted in taunting his brother. "I…I will have it cleaned especially, Dante. Thanks."

Dante merely smirks and waves his hand nonchalantly.

But it seems Vergil isn't done. "Here's a pair of slippers."

"Oh!" Looking down, he has bent over to reach her feet, having procured recyclable hotel slippers.

"Sorry, this was…my 'backup'." He places the two thin, white slippers for her to slip on onto the crumbled ground. She reads the hotel name: _Red Grave Hotel._

"You travel a lot…" She mused curiously. She knew she would naturally regret having to face Vergil after the whole harrowing journey, more so in suddenly making light conversation with him.

"Yes, I did." He replies, his tone just as curt as it always is. But his icy-blue eyes are different, but she refuses to admit what they truly convey. "That was from before I got employed in La Piuma as a professor."

The two of them stare, knowing full well where they are still and who else is witnessing this awkward situation. They know that they need to get moving, otherwise untrained eyes will start questioning or worse, will enact stupidly against the many Prowlers in one iconic place in Fortuna. They know that they should retire and continue tomorrow, instead of remaining quietly sheepish and unsure, just drinking each others' features…

It was Vergil who breaks the short moment. "That story I can tell you some other time. Right now, we'd be happy to take you back to your place. But you are also welcome to stay at one of our places temporarily, as you've said your apartment—"

"I'll be fine staying at my landlady's place while I arrange with her the costs of renovating and losses in my apartment." Kathalina interjects with cold professionalism. "Your offers are not needed."

"I see." Vergil replies coolly, trying to mask the slight frown in his features. "But I would also like to give back to you our appreciation and, as courtesy, for all the troubles. You can name to us what it is."

The muscle in Kathalina's jaw sets. "Peace and quiet." Her eyes glance at Anfisa, whose crumpled form is embraced by Marcelin and the Prowlers are all comforting one another, busy in their little friendly circle. "And also, I just want Ann to be okay."

"They will be." He reassures with a slight nod, his lips a hard line and his eyes still trained on her.

"Okay…can I go now?"

Without much movement, Vergil's eyes glances at his twin, who had decided not to be around their conversation and had busied himself in calling Morrison, and likely the The Sapients' Rights organization. Marcelin will have a word with his father later, through the phone, as everything goes accordingly.

Closing his eyes for two seconds before looking at this brave woman, the one he had dubbed the Ice-Queen secretly and the one that tugged at his heart strings for over a year now, Vergil sighs heavily and opens his eyes. "We can. We also need to…corroborate a story for the public. Of course, your real story will be recorded for Classified purposes."

After hanging up, Dante turns to find his twin stiffly following the hot librarian towards the vintage coupe. He smirks, but not out of amusement…well, a little bit.

Folding his arms across his chest, he grins at them. "Well, looks like bro still needs a little help for his Valentine's…"

* * *

 _This third chapter was just purely reliant on A LOT of research and reference, including a cameo of DMC5's new setting Red Grave City. And yeah, Valentine's is over but I'm gonna try to finish this before February ends._

Let me know what you thought!

You can message me on tumblr, too: **_beesliltales9229_**


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